Dissimulatio
by Denebola
Summary: [AU] Here, every day could be the last day of your life. Fighting back the forces of darkness isn't a fitting job for a bunch of kids. However, they may just be the only ones that mankind can depend on. But do the ends justify the means?
1. Blue

Disclaimer: I do not own Yu-Gi-Oh. Nor do I own whatever allusions herein that my be inspired by Witch Hunter Robin, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Hellboy, Alias, Angel, _any_ horror movie, any classic novel, or any low-budget porn flick. But especially not Yu-Gi-Oh.

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Dissimulatio

"Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities."

Voltaire (1694 - 1778)

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_"Midnight. The time when all the things that go bump in the night start bumping. When everything you thought you knew during daylight comes into question. When you feel the pull of the shadows who have existed longer than time itself. When the-"_

"Duke, could you please shut the hell up for a minute! I'm trying to do surveillance here. Your babbling really isn't helping my concentration." Tristan, a tall brown haired boy muttered, not taking his eyes from the binoculars he was holding up.

His companion, a green-eyed black haired boy, rolled his eyes. "What's there to survail? We've been sitting here for hours, and nothing's happened."

He was right. The two teenagers had been sitting in the black sedan since 9:30, and the perp they were waiting for still hadn't shown. The 'abandoned' warehouse across the street was supposed to be a meeting place for a 'contraband' deal between a clan of Holger demons and a rogue Yulkie demon. Holger demons were known to have a taste for the hearts of infant Yulkie demons. This particular Yulkie demon, the dealer who was also the perp they were looking for, happened to have come into the way of some. The reason the trade-off was so significant is because Yulkie demons were generally a peaceful race of demon. Who happened to have a blood feud going on against the Holgers. So for a Yulkie to barter with the hearts of his own kind's children, something big was going down. Which was why their organization had become involved. And to Duke, also why he and Tristan were sitting in a car on a Tuesday night, bored out of their minds.

"Duke, we just have to be patient. He'll show up. The intelligence said-"

"I know what the intelligence said. I _can _read you know. I just think that maybe they were wrong. The demon was supposed to show up at 10:30. He's an hour and a half late. There's something not quite right about this whole situation. If _you _were a Yulkie demon, would you make a whole bunch of Holgers wait on you? Pretty damn stupid business sense, if you ask me." Duke proclaimed, propping his feet on the passenger seat dashboard in front of him.

Tristan sighed, dropping his binoculars into his lap. "Look, man, I'm just as bored of this as you are. How about we stick it out for another hour, then call it quits? That way, when we get home, we can tell him that it was the intelligence, and not our constitutions, that was weak."

Duke frowned and looked away from his partner. "Fine. But I still don't understand why we took this mission anyway. What does it matter to us if a bunch of demons declare war and decide to kill each other off? Less worries for us."

"What? Whaddya mean _'what does it matter?'_? Yulkies are a peaceful race. They don't harm humans. They're our first and best chance to finally make peace between demons and humans. With them on our side, we might actually have a chance at uniting-" Again, Tristan was cut off.

"Oh please! Spare me the lecture! You don't honestly think that it could ever happen, do you? The only reason we even call the Yulkies 'peaceful' is because they don't outright express their hatred for us. But they're really just neutral. If they saw a human family being dragged away to their deaths by some Dijvas, or Vampires, or even _Holgers, _you think they'd lift a finger to rescue them? _Hell, no!_ They might wait until the Holgers finished killing and eating them, and _then_ they'd step in to pick a fight. No demons truly want peace with humans. Not even Yulkies." His voice went cold. "They're just soulless animals. We should kill 'em all." Duke looked down, his eyes hooded.

"Duke..." Tristan could only look sadly at his friend.

The other boy suddenly looked up, pinning Tristan with a fierce glare. "Don't look at me like that. You know you think about it too."

Silence pervaded the vehicle, as the two boys were each lost into their own thoughts.

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Author's Notes: Whoo! The first chapter! Would you believe that I've been working on this story for over _TWO YEARS? '_Cause I can't. Even now, I'm leery about posting this because I'm not sure if it's up to snuff. I can always revise it later I suppose. Anyhow, thanks for reading this 'teaser' chapter, and please let me know what you think of it by reviewing. Peace out! 


	2. Yellow

Disclaimer: Same as before.

Warning: Information Dump incoming!

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**Dissimulatio**

* * *

Yugi was bored. He and Joey were stuck at the Compound with nothing to do and no one to talk to. Not even Mokuba was awake, and that kid _hated_ sleeping. Said it was a waste of his life. Team Blue was out on a surveillance mission, watching some warehouse out by the docks. Tea and Kaiba (team Red) had been on a marathon mission for the last two days straight without sleep, so they had the night off, and were currently hibernating in their rooms. Even Moon, their boss, was hiding out in his office, doing who knows what. Yugi glanced at the blond haired boy sitting beside him on the couch, currently stuffing his face with cheesepuffs and watching some 'adult movie' on TV.

"Joey... I'm bored." Yugi whined, waving a hand in front of the other boy's face.

"Then go wake somebody up, Yug." Joey replied, without tearing his eyes from the screen.

Yugi sighed. Joey was a completely different person whenever it came to pornography. He called watching the stuff his _'Me time'_. Yugi himself had nothing against watching dirty movies, but Joey seemed to take it to an almost obsessive level. Brushing off his pants of any stray cheesepuff crumbs Joey may have gotten on him, Yugi stood up and decided to find something to do. It wasn't like the place was purposely boring. It was full of all kinds of things you couldn't find anywhere else in the world.Team Yellow was currently in what was dubbed the 'Enterstrangement' room, due to the fact that it had all kinds of TV's, videogame consoles and other assorted entertainment devices, but usually the only time anyone went in there was because they were the only ones up and were bored, hence the 'estrangement' reference in the nickname. Plus, teams Blue, Red, and Yellow had crazy hours that varied from mission to mission, so it was rare and wonderful when everyone was together at the same time for any length of time that didn't consist of a mission briefing.

Yugi missed the good old days. Back when they were just kids, trying to get through 'school' with passing grades, and still be able to hangout and have fun. But in reality, he knew it had never been so simple. They were orphans. All of them. Yugi had been at the Compound the longest. Then Tea had arrived. Then Joey, then Tristan, in rapid succession. Then the two brothers, Seto and Mokuba had arrived. And their newest roommate, Duke, was the last of their little team. All of their parents had been murdered by various kinds of supernatural beings. Horribly. Right in front of their eyes. Which was why they had been brought to the Compound. Yugi had been here for eleven years. Since he was five. And Duke had been here for seven; he was ten when he arrived. The rest fell somewhere in between.

All of their education took place within the Compound. Math, History, Geography, Science, English. All the basics. The rest came later. Martial Arts, Weapons Training, Demonology, Current Issues in SN (Supernatural) Politics, Cryptozoology, Demon Languages, Vampire Sociology, and many more bizarre yet fascinating classes. After they had completed their required learning, they had become members of the _Dissimulatio_. A privately funded organization who publicly exhibited themselves as keepers of peace. They occasionally assisted the Police Department, and were known to lend a hand to the less fortunate, and those struck down by tragedy. Internally however, they were an organization dedicated to protecting humans and _'other' _alike, with the ultimate goal being peace between all species, races, and planes of existence.

Unfortunately, since just about anything that isn't a human wants to kill the humans, the D-Org, or DORG as they are referred to on the streets, had to rethink it's methods. Dissimulatio is basically a non-profit mercenary and private investigating organization. They do occasionally take on cases without a client's involvement, if they feel the actions of the parties involved will be detrimental to the ultimate goal. Meaning: They often had to kick a lot of monster ass. Nobody said peace was easy.

The Compound, where they all live, is located in Domino City, California. Therefore, they are the American branch of Dissimulatio. There are 4 branches of D-Org. The other 3 are located in England, Egypt, and Japan. The organization prefers to stay below the radar, so they locate the Compounds in small cities, conveniently located near 'hotspots', or areas of high supernatural activity.

Dorg now owned every one of them. They were employees, sure, but they were all aware of what would happen to them if they should attempt to leave the organization. They knew too much, had seen too many things. There was no way Dorg would allow them back into the general population. All seven of them had been living in the Compound since they were children. But despite the professionalism of the Compound structure itself, the walls of the building had echoed with laughter even with all of the tragedy in their lives.

The Compound had a room for just about every activity. From the outside, it looked to be a rather unassuming high-class office building. There was a large indoor garage, where they kept the company vehicles, and the motorcycles used for urgent missions and high-speed chases. Unknown to the public, the building had _two _main entries. There was the front revolving door, which led to a lobby and some offices usually used to speak with clients. They each had one, but hardly ever even used them. Moon was usually the one to do the client interviews, which took place in his second, _public_ office, located with the others. A few of the offices, however, were used for low-security interrogations, unknown to the public. But if you went in through the passkey protected garage area, you'd find a much more secure entrance. A sleek sliding door made of 6 inches of solid steel could be found linking the garage to the main building. Beside the door was a keypad with a place to slide a card. Above the door was a security camera, always on.

If you were to enter this door, you'd find a large open room with eggshell colored walls and linoleum flooring. To one side there were various kitchen appliances, cabinets with dishes and food in them, and counters to prepare food on. There was a large plasma TV mounted on the wall. In the middle of the room, was a huge table, presumably used for eating meals. Bolted to the ground, was a computer console with several monitors, screens, and keyboards. All kinds of wires were spread across the console, some identifiable and some not. There was also a very secret, very protected entrance into this room from the office side of the building, which involved a retina and handprint scan, as well as a key card verification pad like the ones by the garage entrance. This room held the security and communications center of the Compound, and Mokuba was the only one who really knew what everything did. There were also some black leather sofas and chairs with small tables beside them spread around the room, pushed against the walls. There was a huge magazine rack located near one of the chairs, containing all kinds of publications. By one of the sofas was a comic book rack, holding dozens of different titles. There were assorted potted plants around the room, and colorful paintings on the walls. It was a pretty comfortable place to hang out. They usually referred to it as the _Lounge_. Several doors on the level lead to other areas of the Compound, including an indoor pool, a study and library, and the 'Enterstrangement' room.

Near the outside entrance to the room, was a sleek silver elevator door. There were no buttons on it, so no one on the level could use it unless they had the right keycard to slide into the slot beside the door. Neither Yugi, nor any of his friends had ever been allowed into the elevator, nor the place where it led. Only the boss was allowed to use it. His main office was located on the floor where it led, and they could only guess what else was up there. It had the whole 4th floor at it's mercy, the elevator being the only way to reach the place. When they were younger, they used to try and imagine all of the wonderful and terrible things that could be on the legendary _4th Floor_. Alas, they'd never gotten the chance to see whether or not there really was a 5-foot tall talking spider up there.

On one side of the Lounge were two sets of stairs, one leading down and one leading up. The upstairs, or Third Floor, was where their bedrooms were located. The stairs led to a green carpeted balcony, with only the floor and banister separating the Third and Second floors. The balcony nearly wrapped around the entire perimeter of the Second floor. Joey always said it would be great to drop some water balloons over the side of the banister. One time, he'd even tried it, and Kaiba had broken his arm in two places once he got a hold of him. Joey hadn't done it since. Their bedrooms were perfectly spread out on the wall, each door the same distance from the next. There were also several guestrooms, each completely furnished in the case of an impromptu visit by an associate in need of shelter. It vaguely resembled the way a hotel was set up.

The stairs leading down from the Second Floor led to the 1st Floor. Technically, it was underground, and should have been considered a basement. This floor was the dirty little secret of the California branch of the Dissimulatio Organization. Down there was where the classroom was located. Along with the shooting range, dojo, gym, medical ward, brig, and the 'situation simulator studio', among other things. The SSS was pretty much just a big bare room where they would put up fake walls, props, and people to train with. Yugi and the gang always had a blast trying to come up with crazy and ridiculous situations to try and maneuver through. In the past, Joey had always been the most creative. He called his most famous situation "The Case of the Exploding Receptacles." The objective was basically trying to catch a fleeing Mokuba while avoiding getting trash sprayed all over you. Mokuba would turn a corner, you would chase after him, and right when you thought you had him, Joey would hit a button from the observation tower and a trashcan rigged with minor explosives would detonate, covering you in things Joey had hand picked to gross you out. You'd be so surprised and disgusted, Mokuba would take off, and the whole thing would start all over again. Tea had been so _furious_ at Joey. He'd told her that it was just a basic cat and mouse; the objective was to get the best time. It took her 3 hours to wash all of the gunk he'd picked for her out of her hair. He'd watched his back for a while after that, jumping at noises, afraid Tea would attack him without warning. She hadn't done anything to him, but only because she enjoyed seeing him so paranoid.

...Yugi really wished someone else was awake besides he and Joey. Boredom was beginning to turn into loneliness.

Yugi decided to lay down on one of the sofas in the Lounge and watch some TV while he decided what he wanted to do for entertainment. The screen in the Lounge was the biggest in the Compound, so he felt a little spoiled having it all to himself. Currently, the local news station was rerunning the 10:00 news report.

"_Good evening, this is Vivian Wong reporting. Earlier tonight the body of a 6-year-old girl was found on a bench in the notorious Clearwater Park..."_

He could always go swimming...they had a huge indoor pool on the Second floor.

_"According to an official statement released by Police Chief Mako Tsunami, the girl had been missing for two days prior to the discovery..."_

Or maybe he could go read something in the library... but then he'd just get sleepy.

_"The girl has been identified as 'Katie Howard', a kindergartner at Domino Elementary School..."_

He really wanted to wait up for team Blue to hear how their mission went.

_"Her only living relative is her older brother who served as her legal guardian, and is currently under investigation in the matter of her death..."_

He supposed he could go play a game in the Enterstrangement room... but Joey was still in there watching that movie.

_"While cause of death has yet to be conclusively determined, a source within the department has told us that it seems that the girl was bitten by a large, poisonous spider..."_

He didn't think he'd feel completely comfortable playing a videogame when his best friend was sitting next to him playing... something else.

_"More on this story as we get it, and our prayers go out to the family and friends of Katie Howard..."_

FFFFWWHHHHRRRR

Good. Tristan and Duke had just pulled into the garage. He hoped they'd had a better night than he had. A stakeout certainly seemed more exciting than sitting around watching television.

SWISH

"Hey Yug, ya still up? It's almost 2:00, bud. Don't you have a check-up for that ankle tomorrow morning?" Tristan asked as soon as he noticed him.

Yugi sat up and took in team Blue's condition. They both looked fine physically. Tristan even had a grin on his face. But there was something in his eyes... And Duke looked completely sullen. He didn't say anything to Yugi after he came in, and instead pushed past Tristan, stomped up the stairs to his room, and slammed the door.

Yugi looked to Tristan with wide eyes. "What's up with him?"

Tristan scratched the back of his head, and slumped down beside Yugi on the sofa. "Ehh... our mission didn't go well. Duke got frustrated." He explained, not looking at his short friend.

"What do you mean, didn't go well?" Yugi asked, frowning in worry.

Tristan grabbed the remote and proceeded to channel surf, but it was obvious to Yugi he wasn't even paying attention to the screen. "He didn't show up." He replied in a carefully neutral voice.

"What? Again? What's going on here?" Yugi asked, more to himself than Tristan.

"I don't know, man. This is the fifth time in two months that the intelligence has been wrong. I'm really starting to get nervous. What if the Holgers had seen us?" Tristan tossed the remote onto the coffee table. "Yugi, that place wasn't a rendezvous point for discreet demon trading practices. It was a daycare." Tristan finished, looking wearier than Yugi had seen him in quite a while.

"A daycare?" Yugi asked, more confused than ever. He dimly heard the shower in Duke's bathroom turn on from upstairs, and in the back of his mind, hoped it didn't wake up Tea and Kaiba. They had looked really haggard when they got home.

"Or a nightcare, rather. Right before Duke and I left, a bunch of adult Holgers showed up and went into the warehouse. A few minutes later they came back out with their children. It was a damn daycare center!" Tristan snarled, clenching his fists.

"But... what does that mean?" Yugi stammered, ignoring the sudden sinking feeling in the pit of his stomach.

Tristan stared Yugi straight in the eyes. "It means that someone's fucking with us."

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Author's Note: Thanks for getting through that. I hated writing this chapter (except for a few sentences) so I hope it wasn't as painful to read as it was writing it. Since the first chapter was just two people sitting in a car, I decided I had better explain what was going on. I plan to have a lot of fun with this story, but please be patient with the plot. It starts slow, but I promise it will gain momentum as time goes by. Anyway, thanks for reading, and please review! 


	3. Red

Disclaimer: Same as before.

* * *

**Dissimulatio**

* * *

"Please, why don't one of you explain to me why we're missing an entire vehicle, and I was just faxed a bill for-" He looked at the piece of paper in his hand, "a fire hydrant, two mailboxes, and a 4-by-12 foot storefront window!" Moon asked, glaring at the two blue-eyed brunettes.

"It wasn't our fault." Kaiba replied, glaring right back at his superior.

Tristan, Duke, Tea, and Kaiba were sitting at the dining table in the Lounge for their debriefings. Team Blue had just had theirs, and now it was team Red's turn. Their boss, Moon, was currently standing at the front of the table, looking like he wanted to punch something. He was a tall man with long silky silver hair, which he wore down, and ice blue eyes, in his late twenties. Normally, he had a kind and lighthearted air about him, despite his role as their superior. Today however, he was feeling less than jovial, obvious from the frown covering his handsome features.

"Did I _say_ it was your fault?" Moon asked, crossing his arms over his chest.

Kaiba's expression remained unchanged. "The tone of your voice implies that you think it was our fault."

"Then like I said, explain to me what _did_ happen." Moon shot back, visibly restraining himself from strangling Kaiba.

Tea and Kaiba looked at each other for a moment before saying at once, "He stole our car."

"What! Who?" Moon's anger quickly fizzled into surprise.

"Eric Stevenson. The brother. Turns out he wasn't kidnapped by Caliphs, he was a gopher for his supposed kidnappers' boss." Tea replied, laying her head in her hands.

Observing them, Moon couldn't help but notice how exhausted the two of them looked, even after nearly fourteen hours rest. Tea and Kaiba both had dark circles under their eyes, Tea had a small cut above her right eyebrow, and he could have sworn Seto had been limping when they'd gotten back yesterday afternoon. He sighed. Why couldn't he ever manage to stay angry with these damn kids!

"So did you tell Greg that Eric was okay?" Moon asked them, uncrossing his arms.

Kaiba snorted. "In a way, yes. We left him on Greg's doorstep in a bloody heap. I'm sure Greg will put two and two together."

Tea smacked Kaiba's arm. "We did not!" She looked up at Moon, panicked. "He was barely even bruised!"

Moon's jaw dropped. "You beat him up?"

Kaiba gave him a look, as if asking, _are you crazy_? "Did you not hear us? He stole our car and crashed it into a _building. _Of course he looks like he just got mauled. The idiot's _lucky_ we didn't kick his ass anyway." Kaiba leaned back in his chair, scowling.

Moon looked at Tea. "Who did Eric work for?"

Tea gave him a weak smile. "Ornfur of the Caliphs. He recognized us about a second before he ordered his men to rip us to shreds." The smile slipped from her face. "We got lucky."

Moon nodded solemnly. "Good old Ornfur. Thank God we still have some allies left."

Duke made a scoffing noise, the first sign that he had even been listening to Tea and Kaiba's debriefing. "Ally. More like acquaintance by default. The Caliphs wouldn't give a damn unless Yugi and Joey hadn't _accidentally_ rescued Ornfur's son."

Moon shot Duke a scathing look. "Then I guess it's a good thing they saved him." He intoned in a cold voice.

Before Duke could reply, Tea cleared her throat, effectively dissipating the building tension in the room. "So anyway, Eric owed Ornfur some money and he had to get it in 3 days, or Ornfur would have him killed. One of Ornfur's men-"

Duke tsked.

Ignoring him, Tea continued, "One of his men told me that Eric had been badmouthing one of Ornfur's rival bosses, and the rival syndicate got wind of it." She looked at Kaiba. "That's why he freaked out and stole our car in the first place. He thought we were with _them_."

"Why would he think you were with some rival gang if you were human too?" Tristan asked, raising an eyebrow.

A dark look briefly passed over Moon's face, but none of his young employees seemed to notice.

Kaiba grimaced. "Clearly he's not the brightest crayon in the box."

"So what about Eric's debt to Ornfur? Is his beloved demon boss just gonna let it go?" Duke asked, a false cheerfulness in his voice.

Tea glared at him. "No. Actually, his brother Greg is gonna pay it off for him, as long as Eric promises to tell him from now on what kind of shady things he's up to. I feel bad for Greg though. The poor guy not only finds out that the things he thought were in his closet at night when he was a kid exist, but also his own _brother_ works for them." Tea sighed, propping up her chin in her hand on the table.

"Well, as long as you got Eric back to Greg, and you guys are all right, I guess it was a successful mission...technically. ...All right then, Red, Blue, you're dismissed." Moon mock frowned at Tea and Kaiba. "And don't worry about the car. The organization will buy a new one...as usual." He muttered, walking towards the silver elevator. "You guys and Yellow have the day off, so enjoy it while you can." And with those parting words, their employer was gone, whisked away in his super-duper elevator to whatever it was he did on the fourth floor.

"Hey guys! How'd your missions go? Yugi told me something weird happened with yours." A short, gray-eyed boy with long wild black hair asked Tristan and Duke, trotting out of the Enterstrangement room.

"Hey Mokuba. Yeah, ours didn't go too well. And Tea and your brother destroyed their car on theirs." Tristan replied, grinning.

Kaiba glared at Tristan from across the table. "We didn't destroy it. Our so-called target did." Kaiba turned to look at his younger brother, smiling faintly. "What have you been up to lately, kiddo? Anything happen while we were gone?"

Mokuba hopped into the seat in-between Tea and Kaiba at the table. "Well... Joey taught me some new vocabulary words... Oh! And Yugi's ankle is all healed, so he and Joey can go out into the field again." He turned to Tea. "And Miho called over the video-link, so I told her you were on a mission, and would get back to her. She seemed kinda anxious or something."

Miho was a member of the Japanese division of Dissimulatio, and she and Tea had been long-distance friends since Miho had visited the American branch several years ago.

At the mention of Miho's name, Tristan's eyes lit up with interest. "Miho called, huh? Did she say anything about me?" He asked, trying to sound casual and failing miserably.

Everyone else at the table, including Kaiba, rolled their eyes.

Duke smirked at his partner's lack of tact when it came to girls. "Dude. She hardly even knows your name. I doubt she even remembers what you look like." He stopped a moment, thinking. "Which is probably a good thing, considering the last time she saw you your voice sounded like a squawking parrot, and you still thought girls had cooties."

Tea snickered. "Oh, she remembers him all right. Every once in a while, she asks me if 'that boy who ruined her shoes' is still here. She'll never forgive you for that, you know." said Tea, sending Tristan a sympathetic look.

"Hey! I thought we'd agreed not to ever mention that again!" The hazel-eyed boy flushed, embarrassed.

Kaiba smirked at him from across the table. "Oh, that's right. We're only supposed to talk about it when _you're_ notin the room."

Tristan's reply was cut off however, when two figures pounded up the stairs, one short with multicolored hair, the other a taller shaggy haired blond.

"Hi guys! How did your mission go?" Yugi asked Tea and Kaiba, a bright smile on his face as he flopped down on one of the sofas a few feet away.

"Actually-" Tea started.

"Actually, we're tired of talking about it, if you don't mind." Kaiba interrupted in a flat tone.

Joey took a seat beside Yugi. "What's wrong Kaiba, you screw it up or somethin'? Wave your gun at da wrong person? A little old lady, maybe?"

Joey and Kaiba were constantly at each other's throats, to the chagrin of _everyone_. At times, it seemed the two would purposely piss each other off, just so they could have another chance to argue.

Mokuba glared at Joey. He couldn't understand why the blond teenager was so rude to his brother. "_No_. You're more likely to do that than my brother, Joey."

Joey flinched, not used to such a venomous tone coming from Mokuba. Why'd he always gotta go and open his big mouth? "You're right Mokuba, I'm sorry. I'm just goin' stir crazy sittin' here all day an' all night with just dis gimp ta keep me company." He grinned sheepishly at Mokuba, seeking his forgiveness.

"Hey! I'm not a gimp!" Yugi said, pretending to sound offended. "At least I bother to actually throw away the jug after I've drank all the milk, instead of just putting it back in the fridge for somebody else to find! Your arm isn't broken, and neither is the trash can." Yugi jokingly admonished.

"I don't know what you're talkin' about." Joey replied, sounding deadly serious, but wasn't able to hide the grin creeping onto his face.

Rolling his eyes, Tristan stood up from the table. "Well I'm bored. You guys wanna catch a movie? Moon said we've got the day off."

"Yeah! That sounds good. Something funny, right?" Mokuba asked, jumping out of his chair and running to the computer console to check running times at the theatre. He always jumped at the opportunity to feel useful.

"Of course." Kaiba replied, standing as well. "Do you even have to ask?"

Tea stood and stretched. "I think there's some new romantic-comedy out starring-"

"A chick flick! No _way_. Teen-sex-comedy for sure." Duke interrupted, rolling his shoulders after standing.

"We are _not_ taking my brother to a teen-sex-comedy." Kaiba snarled, daring Duke to argue.

"Here's one!" Mokuba looked up at them from the computer screen. "It's computer-generated, but I've heard it's really funny. Should be worth the... 70 bucks." Mokuba finished, grimacing.

Tea smiled. "Money is no object here, Mokuba. You know that. What do you guys think?" She asked surveying the group.

Various noises of agreement were uttered.

"Great! The next show starts at 3:00. It's almost 2:30, so we'd better hurry if we want good seats." Mokuba said, leaving the console and rushing to the garage exit.

Yugi followed, and checked his watch. "Gosh! You're right. We'd better go now. Should we take a van or a few of the cars?" He asked the group as they headed towards Mokuba as well.

"How 'bout you guys take a van, and I take a cycle?" Mokuba asked innocently, swiping his card, causing the door to slide open.

"How 'bout not." Kaiba and Joey both replied at the same time. There was an awkward silence, but neither refused to acknowledge that the other had said anything.

"Let's just take a van. I swear I've spent half my adolescence in those damn cars, doing _nothing_." Tristan muttered, heading towards a large, fancy looking black SUV.

"I'll drive!" Joey announced, trying to push past Tristan to get to the driver's seat.

"_NO!_" Everyone else yelled, sending the word echoing around the concrete garage, muting the swish of the door to the inner compound as it closed behind them.

"Tch. _Fine_. Tristan, you drive, but I get da aisle seat at the theatre." Joey pouted, taking shotgun instead.

Once everyone was loaded in, Tristan hit the button on the steering wheel that opened the garage door, but only worked from the inside. As the van moved out onto the street, a suspicious rumbling sound was heard, followed by poorly muffled laughter.

"_JOEY!_" Several people in the van shouted, their disgust obvious.

"What? It's a perfectly normal bodily function. Would ya rather me explode? Cause that's what happens if ya hold it in. Kaboom!"

"Oh shut up, Joey, and roll down a window before I start gagging. You're disgusting." Tea moaned, holding her nose.

Sitting beside his brother, Mokuba looked up at Kaiba. "Is that true Seto? That you explode if you don't-"

"No, Mokuba." Kaiba replied, shaking his head. Then he remembered something. "And what were those words you said Joey taught you while Tea and I were on our mission?"

Mokuba's eyes lit up in excitement. "Oh, those? Well, did you know that another word for _rooster_ is..."

Kaiba had threatened to hang Joey by his own intestines after Mokuba had finished listing off all the filthy new words he'd added to his vocabulary. Thankfully, Joey hadn't explained why those words weren't widely used, so Mokuba wasn't aware that he'd been corrupted. Kaiba could only hope that he'd be so lucky the next time he was away on a mission.

"Hey Mokuba, ya forgot ta mention da other word for cat!"

"_**Wheeler**! I'm warning you!_"

And so, they were off to see a comedy at the local movie theatre. Unsurprisingly, comedies were the only types of movies they would watch together. They each had more than enough drama and horror in their real lives to keep them entertained.

* * *

Author's Notes: Yeah, they called an SUV a van. Because SUV is a stupid name, and just the sound of it makes me angry. (It's a _car_ not a _spaceship_!) Now that the main team is introduced, I can get to the actual plot. For the record, "Moon" is really a character named "_Tenma Gekkou_" whose last and first names roughly translate as "_evil spirit; demon_", and "_moonlight; moonbeam_", respectively. He's one of the new characters from the Yu-Gi-Oh R manga, and he has a twin brother named "_Tenma Yakou_" which means "_evil spirit; demon_", and "_night train; night travel_". Since I'm going by the dub names and the YGO R manga has no dub, I adapted the names as best I could think while still keeping them somewhat realistic. I hope that those of you who care one way or the other are satisfied with the name changes, and I guarantee that the name of "the evil twin" won't be "_Evil Spirit Travelling By Night_". Also, this whole fic is a result of taking what's there and _twisting_ it, so expect a rather complicated relationship between these two brothers, and a certain eccentic billionaire who has an obsession with _Funny Bunny_. As always, thanks for reading, and please review. 


	4. Someone Else's Story: Jamie

Disclaimer: Same as before.

**

* * *

**

**Dissimulatio**

* * *

Jamie had always been a happy little girl, despite her naiveté. She loved horses, and wanted to be a veterinarian when she grew up. Other children her age thought she was strange. Her innocence was viewed as a handicap, instead of valued for the rarity it was. She had her father's youthful bright green eyes, and her mother's light brown hair that turned blond under the sun during the summer. Jamie had never asked for anything bad to happen.

She was in her bedroom, playing with her dolls, which she had named after different flowers. Today, Petunia and Rose were having a sleepover, but ornery Travis, Petunia's neighbor, kept trying to steal their sleeping bags. Just as Rose was about to pull the strip of cloth away from Travis, Jamie heard a noise from downstairs.

It sounded like the kitchen door opening from outside. She looked out her window. It was dark. Daddy never had company over at nighttime. Maybe... maybe it was Mommy!

Quickly abandoning her dolls, Jamie scrambled to her closed bedroom door, and held her ear against the wood, straining to hear voices. She didn't hear any.

Jamie had a bad feeling. It was like that time Mommy and Daddy had taken her out to dinner, wherever she'd wanted, and wanted to have a talk with her after they got home. She'd known something was wrong. Then they'd told her they wouldn't be living together anymore, and that she would be living with her Daddy most of the time. She still didn't understand why they weren't friends anymore. She still didn't understand why her Mommy seemed to get angry every time she talked about Daddy, but made sure not to talk about him to Mommy anymore, all the same.

She was being silly. Of course it wasn't Mommy at the door. Mommy only came every other weekend. Tonight was a Thursday.

Jamie wished things were the way they used to be. This would be her first birthday where she would have two separate cakes, at two separate houses, with two separate but identical fake smiles plastered on her face. She tried not to be upset with them both, but sometimes it was really hard.

Jamie jumped when she heard a loud shattering noise from downstairs. Frightened, she threw open her door, and ran to lean over the banister, peering into the living room below.

"Daddy? Are you okay!" She yelled, expecting to hear his embarrassed chuckle, and "I'm fine sweetheart, just clumsy is all.", but no reply came.

"Daddy!" She yelled, louder, hoping he was preoccupied with sweeping up whatever it was he'd accidentally broken.

Silence.

Tears came to her eyes, and she started to hyperventilate. Why didn't he answer her? Was he mad at her? Had he tripped over one her toys she'd forgotten to pick up? Terrified, she ran down the stairs, taking them two at a time, even though her Daddy always told her to be careful on them. Her Mommy had too, when she'd still lived there.

Heading for the kitchen, she smelled something really strong coming from her destination. It smelled like... pennies?

"Daddy, are you okay? I'm sorry if I-"

Herfather was lying sprawled out on the kitchen table, not moving. His chest was covered in blood. There were various odd shaped reddish-black things lying around him on the table, covered in blood as well. His once youthful bright green eyes were now dull and unblinking as they refused to turn to her and assure her he was okay. A clay vase she had made at school lay shattered on the floor beside the table it had once sat upon.

Daddy had been so proud of her when she'd come home with it.

"Daddy... are you...okay?" Jamie asked, her voice getting progressively more quiet.

He ignored her. He just kept staring at the ceiling like it was the Super Bowl on TV.

"...Daddy...?"

Jamie had never asked for anything bad to happen.

* * *

Author's Note: Aww... Here's the much delayed chapter four, released in tandem with chapter five. It's delayed because I don't think it's fair to just post a teaser, and then leave for a week. So that means that I may have to start posting two or even three chapters at a time. And lemme tell ya, it's much quicker to post several chapters at once than it is to write them. But anyway, here's the teaser to the gang's first real "case". I hope there will be many more. 


	5. Goodbye White Rose

Disclaimer: Same as always.

* * *

**Dissimulatio**

* * *

"Okay crew, gather round. We've got a case." Moon announced, standing at the head of the table, bracing his arms against the back of his chair. Six manila folders containing intelligence sat on the table, one in front of each of his employees.

"What is it this time? I swear to God, if it's another stakeout, I might just shoot myself to get out of it." Tristan said, as he opened his folder.

The group were once again seated at the large table in the Lounge. Yugi, Tea, and Joey on one side, and Kaiba, Tristan, and Duke on the other. Mokuba was watching television on the sofa, eating a candy bar in his pajamas.

Each dressed in the customary black that was required for business like theirs, the teenagers seemed to be particularly miffed to be awakened at such an early hour, even if he had allowed them a few hours of extra sleep.

"Don't worry, it's not a stakeout. Mako called at about 3:00 this morning, and faxed me the info. I'm gonna need all of you on this one." Moon replied, his tone letting everyone know how serious he was.

Tea looked over the file with a sadness in her eyes. "So the daughter was the one to find the body? She's only nine..."

"Damn. The guy got his guts ripped out? That _had_ ta hurt." Joey stated, his eyebrows raised to the point of being hidden under his bangs.

"As you look over the intelligence, I'll explain. Apparently, Jamie Wainwright, the daughter, went downstairs because she heard a noise, and discovered what you see pictured on page four."

As the group flipped to the page Moon indicated, several looked away and quickly flipped back to the text briefing.

Moon continued, seeing the disgusted looks on his employee's faces. "Adriel Wainwright, the father, was discovered on the kitchen table of his home with nearly all of his major internal organs forcibly removed from his body. However-"

Zack was interrupted by a short bark of laughter from Mokuba as he chuckled at something the stand-up comedian on television said.

"...However, despite the carnage, Mr. Wainwright's spinal column was the only part found missing from his body. It appears to have been ripped out through his chest."

"Oh, _joy_." Joey muttered sarcastically.

"The spine? Sounds like a Klayvok to me." Kaiba said, sounding hostile while still managing to be helpful.

"You're right! Klayvok demons love spinal fluid. A lot of other demons would have gone straight for the heart." Duke agreed, trying not to sound excited at the prospect of a hunt.

"But what's a Klayvok doing here in California? I thought they hated the ocean." Yugi chimed in, looking confused.

Moon frowned. "You're right Yugi. But the fact that the attacker left the rest of the victim's organs around him like some kind of morbid table arrangement sounds exactly like a Klayvok. They're scientifically vicious; ruthless with a steady hand. It's in their nature."

"They're like the surgeons of the demon community..." Tea muttered, looking slightly disturbed.

"Sure, if you would consider Jack the Ripper the _human_ equivalent of a surgeon. Those things are completely depraved." Tristan said, shaking his head.

Moon let out a long sigh. "Alright guys, here's the game plan. Jamie is with her mother, Lois, at the police station. I want Yellow to go question the mother, and possibly see if you can get any more information out of Jamie. Blue can go to the home and scope out the crime scene. The body's been transported to the morgue, but Mako gave us clearance, so check there as well. Red, I want you two to check if any of our contacts have any information on this, and go by some of the more obscure demon hangouts. I'd imagine the murderer is aware we're looking for him, and probably won't be in a very visible place. All of you, be careful; I'm not really sure what to expect with this one." He called over to the figure draped upside down across the sofa with his feet dangling over the back.

"Hey Mokuba?"

"Yeah?"

"Would you mind looking up a man named Adriel Wainwright for us on the console?" Moon asked.

"No prob." Mokuba replied, not moving from his uncomfortable looking position.

"Alright then! Let's get this show on the road, folks! Dismissed!" And with a concise clap of Moon's hands, they were off.

* * *

Lois Wainwright, with her long light brown hair and cinnamon brown eyes, wasn't an unattractive woman. In fact, Joey thought to himself, if she were ten years younger, he might even make a pass at her. He'd always had a thing for older women, after all. But, he told himself, this was neither the time nor place for such thoughts.

He and Yugi were sitting across a table from Lois and Jamie Wainwright, in an empty office at the Domino City Police Department. Jamie was understandably quiet, while Lois seemed a bit nervous speaking with the black clad agents of D-Org.

Always having an overwhelming affinity for children, Yugi immediately sensed Jamie felt uncomfortable being in the room when such painful questions were going to be asked, and wished to do something about it.

"Hey Jamie, would you like to go get some ice cream down the block with me while my friend Joey talks with your mother?" He asked, trying to sound cheerful for the girl.

Jamie looked to her mother, to see if it was alright, and when Lois nodded her head, she timidly smiled at Yugi, and stood up. Yugi sent a quick glance to Joey, as if asking, "_Can you do this alone_?" When Joey gave an almost imperceptible nod in return, Yugi offered his hand to Jamie, and they left the room.

Joey was left alone with Lois Wainwright. He wanted to get this over with as quickly and painlessly as possible.

"First off, Mrs. Wainwright, I'm really sorry about what happened to your husband, and-"

"Ex-husband. We divorced 6 months ago." Lois interrupted quickly, and a bit agitatedly.

"Oh. Just as well, I imagine that dis has been a pretty big shock to ya. And I'm sure Jamie isn't taking it very well..." Joey immediately noticed the woman flinch at the mention of her daughter, and visibly intensified his scrutiny of her, leaning forward a bit to hear her speak.

"No... she's not. But how is a child expected to deal with the death of a parent? I'm trying to comfort her as best I can, but some things just can't be helped." Lois replied, not meeting his eyes.

"Well, uh, I know this may be hard for you, but can you think of any reason someone may have wanted to hurt Adriel?" Joey asked, trying to put as much sincerity as he could into his voice.

There was something not quite right about Lois Wainwright and her behavior, but that could have had something to do with the fact that her ex-husband had been horribly murdered with her only daughter a mere flight of stairs away. Joey would have to keep on his toes.

"Adriel." She let out a choked laugh. "Adriel was too much of a coward to have any _real_ enemies. No, everyone saw him as the epitome of perfect. Perfect attorney, perfect father, perfect husband... I was the one with the problems, not him. I was the one with the enemies."

Joey frowned. The woman seemed to be talking more to herself than him. Maybe she was more affected by her ex-husband's death than she let on.

"Do you think someone may have killed him to get to you?" He asked, plowing straight ahead.

She seemed surprised. There was an unidentifiable glimmer in her eyes he couldn't place. "Me? If they had wanted to hurt me they would have gone after my daughter, not that _bastard_-" She stopped suddenly, shocked at her own words.

Joey raised an eyebrow, but said nothing of it. Marital problems were not what he was concerned about.

"I'm sorry... you'll have to excuse me. Adriel and I haven't- _hadn't_ been on good terms for quite a while. But I have to be strong for Jamie..." She trailed off, and for the first time, he saw grief in her expression.

After a moment, Joey continued. "Speaking of Jamie, do ya know if she saw anything else? We've got the police report, but sometimes people remember things later on, after da shock has worn off..." He asked tentatively, feeling slightly dirty for bringing the little girl back into it.

"Jamie? She told me that only thing that seemed suspicious was when-"

* * *

"-I heard a noise. It sounded like the kitchen door opening." Jamie replied, before taking another bite of the huge ice cream sandwich Yugi had bought her.

He and Jamie were sitting outdoors at the picnic tables on the patio of the ice cream place about two blocks from the DCPD. Jamie had seemed reluctant to speak with him at first, but she had immediately warmed up to him when he had started singing along with the radio on the short car ride there. He'd kept slightly nudging her and raising his eyebrows, urging her to sing along as he drove. She'd seemed a bit confused at first, but smiled brightly at him, and began to sing as well. Once they reached their destination, she was eager to speak with him about almost anything. Yugi got the feeling that she didn't really have that many friends. Pity. Those kids didn't know what they were missing.

"How long was that before...?" He couldn't bring himself to finish the question.

"It was only a few minutes before I heard my vase smash. And it didn't take me very long to get downstairs after that." She readily replied, with a tact not often found in one so young.

Sometimes he really hated his job. "Do you know what your father was doing before... you heard the vase smash?"

"He usually does the dishes that time of night. He used to want to be a plumber, did you know? He likes to clean the kitchen and fix stuff to help him relax." Jamie said, talking through the ice cream and chocolate in her mouth.

"And you didn't hear anything in-between when you heard the door, and when you heard the vase smash?" He asked, his orange popsicle hanging out of the side of his mouth like a cigar, eliciting a small burst of laughter from Jamie.

"Nuh uh. At first I thought it may have been his friend, but she never comes over at night time. Then I thought maybe it was... I don't know who it was. Daddy doesn't keep the kitchen door locked, because our backyard is fenced in."

"Your Dad's friend?" The briefing hadn't mentioned that Wainwright was seeing anyone.

"Oh yeah. She's really nice, and really pretty, and gave me this." She pointed to a silver cross hanging on a thin silver chain around her neck. "She always tells me to never go out after dark. I didn't know grown-ups were scared of the dark too, until I met her. They always visit in the daytime. Sometimes she brings a friend of hers with her, and he's nice too. He gave me a glass pony one day. He says he likes horses too."

Yugi studied the cross hanging around her neck. If he didn't know any better, he'd say those small carvings on it were... glyphs! "Did they go to work with your Dad?"

She froze suddenly, studying him for a moment, before glancing around them, then asking quietly, "Yugi, can you keep a secret?"

"...of course, Jamie. What is it?" What was going on here?

"The pretty lady and the nice man come over sometimes, and Daddy asks me to go play upstairs every time they visit. One time I pretended to go to my room, but I hid behind the bookcase upstairs, so they couldn't see me." She stopped for a minute, looking guilty. "The pretty lady had a bunch of books and a big bag with her every time she came, and I got to see what she had in it. A whole bunch of powders and plants and rocks and weird stuff like that. They sat in a circle and started saying really weird words. Then a big bright light came from the middle of the circle and I got blinded for a few seconds. Then they would talk in these really serious voices for a while, before the pretty lady and the nice man left. Yugi... I think that lady may be a..." She trailed off, suddenly shy.

"A what?" He prodded gently.

"A _superhero_! How else could she have done that? I bet the nice man is her sidekick!" She exclaimed, in a loud whisper.

Yugi couldn't help but smile at Jamie's conclusion. But this new information disturbed him. It seemed they were dealing with more than they had bargained for. With the information Jamie had just given him about Adriel Wainwright's mysterious 'pretty lady', he could only come to the conclusion that she was indeed...

A witch.

* * *

The neighborhood that the Wainwright home was located in seemed to be pretty upscale. Perfectly mowed lawns and sculpted bushes. Every home seemed to be a clone of the last, with little variation. Some of the cars in the driveways were even the same, color and all. Places like this rubbed Tristan the wrong way. Even though the house was surrounded by yellow police tape, he casually passed it, and stepped into the house through the unlocked front door.

Inside, things looked pretty normal as well. It was large, had white walls, and was utterly boring. He walked through the house until he reached the kitchen. The smell of blood was overpowering, even if only standing in the doorway. The body and organs had been moved to the morgue, where Duke currently was, but it was clear some horrifying event had occurred. The table was covered in a thick layer of dried blood, and the white linoleum floor was smeared with it as well.

Tristan wasn't sure what Moon had expected him to find there. The cops had already been over the crime scene with a fine-tooth comb. It wasn't like he was going to find a picture of the demon labeled, '**I DID IT**.', or anything. Why did it seem like he always got sent on the most pointless missions!

The kitchen didn't seem to hold anything of value, except for confirmation of the gruesome murder. Still, he'd been sent here, and he was gonna do his job. Perhaps he could find something pertaining to the motive of the killer...

After opening almost every drawer, door, and cabinet he could find, he was at a loss. He'd ended his search in the same place it began, in the kitchen. He'd scoured the house, and had looked at everything but the kitchen sink. Grinning, he leaned down and took a peek in the cabinets under the sink. At least Moon couldn't bitch at him for not being thorough enough.

Cleaning supplies, pesticides, a flyswatter, and pipes. Nothing much there. Oddly, one of the metal pipes had an extra plastic tube on it, not linked to anything else. Curious, he stared at it for a while. He was by no means a plumber, but he was pretty sure that was unusual. Cautiously, he touched the rim of the short plastic tube, in case he came back with a hand covered in slime.

_Nope, it's bone dry_.

Apparently it wasn't attached to the rest of the water circulation. Carefully, he ran a finger inside of the pipe, until it met with something dry and unattached to the tube. Pulling it out, he recognized it as a scrap of paper. It had one sentence written on it in a small, neat hand.

"What are the odds...?"

_Ground Zero -_ _1996 SE. Jump Blvd._

He was looking at the street address of the American Division of the Dissimulatio Organization's office building.

* * *

"God, I hate this place." Duke muttered, making sure the mortician could hear him as he left Duke in peace to examine the body.

Before him was the dead body of Adriel Wainwright, lying on a tall metal table, covered by a white sheet. No matter how familiar he was with the scene, Duke would never get used to the utterly _wrong_ feeling one gets when encountering a human body with absolutely no motion to it.

Sighing, he carefully pulled the sheet away, and tossed it on a nearby table. The man's entire chest and abdomen were ripped open, exposing his very obvious lack of organs. The organs, as it were, were sitting in liquid filled jars on the table were he had thrown the sheet.

The body was already slightly blue, and stank like all hell. Fortunately, the glowering mortician had given him a flimsy paper mask in an attempt to weaken the stench. Unfortunately, it didn't_ work_. Studying the edges of the large gaping wound, Duke noticed that the cut was sloppy and ragged. Apparently the demon hadn't had time to use a knife, and just decided to rip Wainwright open with it's claws. If it really was a Klayvok, then he must've been in a hell of a hurry. They liked to use instruments of the extremely painful kind on their victims given half the chance.

Studying the poor sap's face, he couldn't help but feel anger stirring in him. There were humans who did things like this, he knew. Yes, depravity had no boundaries in this world, it seemed. But for every human that committed a crime like this and was sentenced to life in prison, there were a thousand demons who did the same damn thing or worse over and over, and got off scot-free because it was 'in their nature', and 'couldn't be helped'. If he ever got the chance to really _do_ something about it, he would take it in a heartbeat. Was he the only one who felt that what they were trying to do could _never_ be enough? Couldn't the others understand that-

_Whoa. Wait a minute here._

So lost in his thoughts, he had missed the earring at first inspection. Through Adriel Wainwright's right ear lobe was a small hoop with a rough, tiny, jade colored ball on it. Solidified Klayvok saliva.

**_Oh - Shit_**

Duke quickly pulled out his cell phone and dialed '2' on speed dial. The Compound.

_"Larimar? What's up?"_

"Onyx, I think we have a major problem."

* * *

"I would have thought you'd be out of town by now, Boloklov." Kaiba stated, taking a seat on one side of the demon, Tea on the other. They both had their hands on the butts of their guns.

They'd gotten the call from Mokuba almost ten minutes ago about just who it was they were looking for. At the time, they'd been interrogating a particularly annoying vampire contact of theirs named Arkana. He'd insisted on fifty bucks and a carton of cigarettes in return for his information. Kaiba had been ready to stake the guy, sensing that he didn't know anything about any Klayvok demons anyway. Luckily for the vampire, Mokuba had chosen that moment to call Tea and inform her of what Duke had discovered at the morgue.

Adriel Wainwright had been murdered by a Klayvok demon hitman, named Boloklov. Boloklov's signature was leaving his victims with the gift of an earring with his own saliva on it. The group had heard about Boloklov's escapades from the U.K. branch of Dorg. The hitman usually kept his business in Europe.

Mokuba informed them that one of their contacts had called _them_ to tell Dorg where Boloklov was. Even other demons feared Klayvoks. Apparently, he was at a low rent demon bar called "_Gurg's_", located in the less savory area of town, nearly out of the city limits. Kaiba and Tea had rushed to the bar, hoping to catch him before he skipped town. But from his behavior, they needn't have worried.

Boloklov chuckled, his gravelly laugh spiteful. "You kids from Dorg? Ain't cha a little young ta be in a bar?"

The bar itself was grungy, dark, and smoke-hazed, with a few tables spread around the room and a very old jukebox that was playing some type of dirge with an organ as the main instrument. There were several other demon patrons attending, but they seemed to be frightened by the two members of Dissimulatio present. Boloklov, being a Klayvok, was a man-sized gray demon with scales as hard as rock covering his body. He was wearing a dirty black t-shirt, and torn blue jeans. Currently, he was hunched at the bar, with Tea and Kaiba sitting on the stools on either side of him. The vampire bartender went as far away from them as he could without gaining attention.

"What are you doing in Domino, Boloklov?" Tea asked, tightening her grip on her gun. She'd heard enough horror stories about this guy to know not to let her guard down.

"Working." He replied simply, grinning at her widely to clearly display just how sharp his tiny, yellowed teeth were.

"We have reason to believe you murdered a human male late last night. It would be in your best interest to cooperate with our questioning." Kaiba growled, the threat obvious in his tone.

"Don't blow a gasket, prettyboy. I was only doing my job." The demon smirked. "Just like you two are. So I'd 'preciate it if you went on your way, and stopped terrifying these fine patrons." He motioned to the other various races of demons in the bar, several flinching when Kaiba and Tea looked at them.

Growing frustrated with Boloklov's overly casual attitude, Tea slammed a palm on the bar to get his attention. "Look, we know you killed Adriel Wainwright. What we can't understand is why you left your signature, and yet thought you wouldn't get caught."

"Look dollface, I didn't do nothing out of the ordinary. 'Cept this time my target was a human. Y'all don't get in my face when it's a random demon, so fuck off." Boloklov snarled, before taking another swig of the suspiciously reddish-orange tinted liquid in his glass.

Kaiba frowned. Did that mean... "Someone contracted you to off a _human being_?"

"Yeah, that's right. Boy, they must really test your brains at Dorg. I mean, a hitman being contracted to kill someone? How did you ever come to that conclusion?" Boloklov taunted, voice slightly slurred from alcohol.

Kaiba's trigger finger began to itch.

"Who hired you?" Tea asked quietly, looking the demon straight in his pupil-less black eyes.

Boloklov grinned, even wider than last time. "Aw, come on now sweetheart, you know I can't tell ya that. It's against my code of ethics."

"Screw your ethics, _tell us_, or we'll drag your ass back to headquarters right now. You can't just kill a human and not expect us to find out why, hitman or not." Kaiba intoned, clearly making his gun visible to Boloklov from beneath his black coat.

The demon's facade immediately dropped. Looking shifty eyed, he motioned for them to lean in closer, so as not to be overheard. Cautiously, they did, but were prepared to attack if it was some kind of trick.

"Fine. But you can't let it be known that I told ya, or I'll never be able to get a job again. You'll ruin my credibility." He swallowed the last of his drink before continuing.

"It was some human broad named Lois Wainwright." He confided, looking more nervous than he had when they'd come in.

"Wait. His _human_ ex-wife hired you? How did she even know you existed!" Tea asked, not able to disguise the surprise in her voice.

"Ya got me. The bitch contacted me by phone. I'd found a suitcase full of cash in my car the night before she called. All in small bills. I hadn't known who it was from until she asked me to kill off her ex."

"You should have known better than to kill a human, Boloklov. They have _human_ hitmen for that." Kaiba muttered, ignoring when Boloklov motioned the bartender over for another drink.

"Look, Mr. Grinch, _she_ contacted _me_. She'd already payed me an assload of green, and I sure as hell wasn't gonna back out, especially with such an easy target. It's part of my ethics." Boloklov flicked his tongue once over the lip of his glass in a flash of green before continuing. "Trust me, I'd never work for a human unless I had a shit load of motivation, and 350 grand was plenty enough to get my feet movin'. I was on a plane to California within an hour of her call."

Tea's eyes widened. "She payed you 350 thousand dollars?" Turning to Kaiba, she frowned. "Where'd she get _that_ kind of money? I thought she was a secretary?"

He shrugged. "I still don't understand why she would hire a demon hitman. She could have gotten a human one for a hell of a lot cheaper."

Listening to their pondering, Boloklov chuckled. "I don't know why you're complaining. From what I hear, she's done us both a favor." After quickly chugging his drink, he stood to leave.

"Just what is _that_ supposed to mean?" Tea demanded, put off by the small smile on his skinless lips.

Heading for the door, the Klayvok turned back to her for a moment. "Whatever ya want it ta mean, honey. I ain't gettin' involved in none of your Dorg shit." And with that, he turned to leave, but stopped one last time the in the doorway.

"By the way, kiddos, nice vertebrae ya got there..." Grinning that evil grin, Boloklov left the bar.

The two agents sat for a moment in silence, taking in what they'd just learned.

Suddenly, Tea jumped on her seat. "Oh! We have to let the others know." Pulling out her phone, she dialed '2', just as Duke had.

_"Ruby? You guys get anything?"_

Meeting Kaiba's eyes, she nodded, even though Mokuba couldn't see it.

"Yeah. Lois hired Boloklov to off Adriel. Make sure Yellow doesn't let her go. We'll get back to the Compound as quick as we can, Onyx."

_"Alright. I'll tell Citrine and Amber to escort her there, too. Blue got back a while ago. See you guys soon, and be careful."_

Ending the call and looking at Kaiba, she answered his unasked question in a whisper. "Yugi and Joey are gonna take her to the Compound. Moon will probably want us there to help question her."

"Alright, let's go. The stench of this pit is clogging my nostrils." Kaiba muttered, glaring daggers at the demons around them.

However, just before they left their stools, the vampire bartender finally timidly approached them.

"Can I get you two anything on this fine day?"

Kaiba only glared.

* * *

Lois Wainwright sat in a completely white room with a solid steel door, fidgeting on an uncomfortable metal chair placed in front of a cold metal table. Joey had taken her to the Compound after receiving Mokuba's call, and lead her through the public entrance to their less frightening interrogation rooms. Yugi had brought Jamie, and the girl was currently in Mokuba's public office, most likely playing video games with the younger Kaiba. They had all made sure not to let anything slip to Jamie as to what was going on.

Joey and Tea sat across from Lois, the girl with a notebook and pencil, and the boy with a tape recorder.

"You hired a hitman to kill your ex-husband." Tea stated, deadpan.

"What? No, no, I would never do something like that." Lois replied, the look on her face clearly betraying the lie.

Joey couldn't understand why she'd even bothered to answer if she was such a horrible liar.

"Do ya have _any_ idea how much danger ya put your daughter in? Huh?" Joey asked, not even bothering to acknowledge her denial.

"How dare you! I would never put my daughter in harm's way. You don't know me, you have no right to judge me!" Lois yelled, her hands clenched into fists.

It was clear to the two teenagers, as well as to the several other members of Dorg watching the interrogation through the one-sided mirror in the wall to the left them, that Lois Wainwright was about to crack.

"We spoke with Boloklov. He told us everything." Tea said, her eyes shining with suppressed anger.

At the mention of Boloklov's name, Lois seemed to sink into herself, and slumped down in her chair. There was a tense silence before she began.

"It's not like I planned it or anything... If I had a choice, Jamie would never have had to be deprived of a father." Lois replied, her voice subdued.

"How did you find out about Boloklov?" Joey asked, meeting eyes with Tea for a second.

"There was a man. He told me that Boloklov could take care of my problem, and gave me a number to call." Lois replied, in a defeated voice.

"Wait, so some guy told you about Boloklov? Where did you meet him?" Tea asked, failing to hide the confusion in her voice.

"...In a bar. I've been going there a lot since Adriel was awarded custody of Jamie." The bitterness in Lois' words was easily distinguished.

"Was it a demon bar?" Joey asked, frowning.

"..._What_?"

"Did you meet the man in a demon bar or a regular one?" Tea asked, clarifying.

"What are you _talking_ about?" Lois asked, looking extremely confused.

"When the man approached you, was it in a _demon bar_?" Joey asked again, getting frustrated.

"Are you people _crazy_! _What the hell are you asking me_!" Lois demanded, looking confused as well as alarmed.

As one, Joey and Tea realized that Lois Wainwright had no idea that Boloklov was a Klayvok demon. It seemed that she didn't know that demons even existed.

"What did the man look like?" Tea asked, quickly changing tactics.

"_Wha_? Oh... well, I couldn't really tell. He had a sweatshirt on, and the hood was up. Plus I was in a bar, doing what it is people do in bars, so I don't recollect anything all that well..." Lois replied, still looking mildly confused at the sudden change of topic.

"When did dis happen, exactly? Hitmen usually don't have open contracts unless the contractor is a corporation." Joey asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Just the other night. I was drunk when I called the hitman, so I hardly remembered what I'd done the next morning. I hoped that maybe I'd given him the wrong information because I was so out of it, but when I got the call from the police station late last night, I knew Boloklov had gotten the job done." Lois replied, holding her head in her hands.

"What did the man in the bar say to you? People aren't usually randomly approached with offers of hitmen." Tea asked.

A faraway look entered Lois eyes and she concentrated on a spot on the table as she spoke. "He... seemed to know exactly how I felt. He knew how hard it was for me to not see Jamie everyday. How angry I was at Adriel for taking her from me... but I guess that's over now..." Her voice trailed off, a lost look on her face.

"...He knew everything that was going on with Jamie and Adriel?" Joey asked, frowning.

"It seemed like it. His words just resounded in my head. I think... that even if I hadn't been drunk at the time, I would have called that number. He just convinced me that this was the right thing to do. This would fix everything. So I did it." Lois said, her voice firm.

"And where did you get the 350 thousand dollars? Especially on such short notice." Tea asked, tilting her head to the side.

"350 thousand dollars? What are you talking about?" Lois asked, her eyes wide.

Joey sighed disgustedly. "Don't tell us. Ya never paid Boloklav 350 thousand dollars."

This case was starting to piss him off. None of this was making any sense.

"No! I never paid him a cent. He didn't even ask me about payment on the phone." Lois replied, looking slightly amazed.

"That's because he thought you'd already paid him. He found the money in his car the night before." Tea ran a hand through her hair in frustration. "Considering his car was probably in _Germany_ at the time, we should have known something was up..."

"So let me get this straight. You were devastated when your ex-husband was awarded custody of your daughter after the divorce. A few nights ago, a man approaches ya in a bar, telling ya you can fix all your problems by callin' a phone number and tellin' the person on the line where to go. So you do it, and the next night your husband gets murdered in his own home, with your only daughter yards away. That about right?" Joey asked, staring intensely at Lois.

"Yes..." She looked pleadingly at the two. "But please... let me keep Jamie. I'm the only parent she has left. I would hate for her to go to one of those foster families you hear about on the news. Her father dead, and her mother in jail... _why did I _...?" Lois asked quietly, closing her eyes and bowing her head.

Joey and Tea remained silent. They already knew what the decision would be concerning Jamie's future. Moon would allow the little girl to remain in her mother's care, and Lois Wainwright's confession would never be heard by anyone not belonging to the Dissimulatio Organization. Adriel Wainwright's murder would remain unsolved, Boloklav would remain unpunished, and Jamie would never understand why her mother always looked at her with such guilty eyes, even when she was happy. It wasn't right, and it wasn't fair, but it was the best decision possible.

Watching Lois Wainwright begin to quietly sob into her hands from across the table, the two teenagers couldn't help but wonder if, someday, they too would be held accountable for Jamie Wainwright's loss of innocence.

* * *

"And it doesn't say anything else on it?" Yugi asked Tristan, scratching his head.

"Nope, just the address. But I don't like the sound of this '_Ground Zero_' crap." Tristan replied, shrugging his shoulders.

The six teenagers, plus Mokuba and Moon, were seated at the dining table in the Lounge for their debriefing. As was customary, Moon was seated at the head of the table with the original briefing, plus the new information they had gathered, stuffed in a manila folder in front of him.

"I ran a handwriting analysis on it, but nothing came up in the database." Mokuba added from his seat beside Kaiba.

"Was there anything in his profile that could have linked him to us?" Moon asked the boy, before taking a slurp of his soda.

"Nuh-uh. He worked for the courthouse as an Assistant District Attorney and leads the most boring life you could ever want. He's a total John Smith." Mokuba replied, sounding disappointed.

"Jamie said that Wainwright had friends over sometimes, and from what she told me, it sounds like they did spells, or rituals. The woman even gave her a cross with glyphs on it. It sounds like Adriel Wainwright was a lot more than he seemed." Yugi stated, remembering what the little girl had told him.

"Apparently. Why else would someone pay 350 thousand dollars to have him whacked? Lois Wainwright was just a pawn. We're clearly dealing with someone who knows what they're doing." Kaiba broke in, his voice flat.

"I wanna know who the hell the guy who gave her that phone number was. He's gotta play a part in Wainwright's death." Joey said, his words muffled by the pizza in his mouth.

It was 6:30 on a Friday night, and Yugi was the only one who'd eaten anything, and with that being only a flavored stick of frozen orange dye, they were all pretty hungry. It wasn't at all unusual for them to eat during their meetings.

"He couldn't have been a demon. It was a human bar after all, and unless the guy was really stupid, he had to have known someone would notice he was a fork-tongued freak, hoodie or not." Duke surmised, after swallowing a bite of tuna salad sandwich.

"Do you think it could have been a vampire? Then he wouldn't have had any trouble fitting in." Tea asked, her nose wrinkling at the sight of the thick red sauce dripping down an oblivious Joey's chin.

"It could have been. It's more likely than a human." Tristan replied.

"It doesn't matter. We can speculate all we want, it won't help anything." Moon announced in his **'this is important**' voice. "The way I figure it, you all did a great job today, and deserve a break this weekend. Unless something urgent comes up, why don't you all take the weekend off? No training unless it's voluntary."

"Kick ass!"

"Mokuba!" Kaiba scolded, raising an eyebrow at his brother's language.

Moon laughed. "Alright then, that settles it. _I_ am going to my office to sort this out. I want you all to finish your dinner and enjoy your time off. You're all dismissed!" Their boss nodded to them before leaving in his precious elevator.

"Hey Kaiba." Joey smirked at the boy across the table. "Did you really let Boloklov get away with calling you **_prettyboy_**?"

Kaiba quickly turned a glare on Tea, and the girl flushed and suddenly seemed to find the carrot shavings in her chicken salad utterly fascinating. Growling slightly, Kaiba settled his glare on the blond whelp instead.

"I imagine that you would have taken that for a sign that blood must be shed, but I prefer to be a professional when I'm on a case." The elder Kaiba intoned, his posture daring Joey to provoke him.

"Tch, yeah, a professional _wuss_. _I_ woulda clocked the thing." Joey boasted, still not noticing the red paste on his face.

"Joey, come on..." Tea pleaded, regretting ever telling him about her and Kaiba's meeting with Boloklav in the first place.

Duke laughed. "Yeah right, Joey. That Klayvok would have ripped off your dick and shoved it up your ass before you could say, '_I'm a girly man_.'"

"Duke!" Yugi snarled, shooting a glance at the wide-eyed girl beside him.

"Oh. Sorry, Tea." Duke apologized sheepishly, scratching the back of his ear in regret. The guys had made an agreement years ago to not be too vulgar in front of her, because of the time she'd innocently asked Moon what a '_carpet muncher_'was when she was nine, and he'd screamed at them all for corrupting her.

"Even if I had decided that Boloklav's petty name calling was worthy of violence, I would have held my temper in check, because I, unlike _you_, Wheeler, value my partner's safety." Kaiba said, not taking to the bait.

Joey first looked ready to go off on Kaiba, but realizing what the taller boy was referring to, he instead clenched his fists and lowered his head in shame.

"That wasn't Joey's fault Kaiba. Neither he _or_ Yugi had any idea that there was a fourth Brailen demon. You can't say-" Tristan's defense of his friend was cut off when Kaiba waved a hand and shook his head.

"I understand that. I'm just making the point that Wheeler should think about what he says before it comes spewing out of his mouth." Kaiba stated, his anger satiated by the guilty look on Joey's face.

"Hey guys, don't argue, we have the weekend off. What's there to be mad about?" Mokuba asked, with very convincing nonchalance. Practice makes perfect.

"Mokuba's right. Let's enjoy our lack of responsibility while we still have it." Yugi agreed, grinning when Joey seemed to finally notice the sauce on his chin, and wiped it off with the back of his sleeve.

"What the? Why didn't any of ya tell me I had crap on my face! How long has that been on there!" Joey demanded, wiping off his sleeve with a napkin.

"Only for the last twenty minutes. We figured you would notice it sometime. Probably next week, when you decide to take a shower." Tristan replied, before ducking Joey's swipe at his head.

"_The whole world's against me!_" Joey announced, dramatically raising his arms to the heavens as his friends laughed. Kaiba even smirked a little.

* * *

Author's Notes: Uh-oh. _Codenames_. I hadn't originally planned on having any, but then I thought, "If I were running a super-secret organization, wouldn't I want my kids to have some type of failsafe in case they trusted the wrong people?" But don't worry, I have all their codenames listed on my homepage, (Which was really only created for this story) which can be found in my profile. Actually, entire character "profiles" for each of the main crew can be found there. Some stats are actually official for the character, some are hinted at in the manga or anime, some are just for fleshing out these strange AU _Yuugi-tachi's_ personalities, some are technically foreshadowing, and some are just me, having fun. Anyway! Thanks for sticking with me here through all the tedium, I really appreciate it. I feed my cat with your reviews! _"Mmm... capitalization...with tuna!"_


	6. Primary Colors: Separation Anxiety

Disclaimer: The usual.

* * *

**Dissimulatio**

* * *

The lights were on. He could see her silhouette outlined through her bedroom window. It looked like she was brushing her hair. He wondered if she'd had a good day. He wondered if her smile could still light up a whole room. He wondered if she missed him as much as he missed her.

Sitting in front of this house in his car in the dark with the headlights off had become a ritual for him. He did it as often as he could. Sometimes he would check on her two times a day. He could almost pretend that he was content just watching her shadow through a window. As long as she was happy. As long as she was safe.

She didn't even know he was alive. As far as she knew, he had been dead for nine years. He had disappeared the night that their father was brutally murdered. After a few months, she had probably given up hope. He only prayed that she still remembered him. Remembered how much he loved her.

He could only watch her from afar now, distanced from her more than he thought possible, after what had happened when their parents divorced. He hadn't realized how lucky he was to have had those short, heart-wrenching telephone conversations with her back when he was still 'alive'. But how could he have known what would happen? How could anyone?

The empty feeling kept him awake at night sometimes, and he would spend hours staring at his ceiling in the dark, thinking of her. The crippling sense of loss and alienation he would feel, so strong it seemed like a physical weight pressing down on his body. Sometimes it would be so bad, he could swear that there was an invisible fist thrust into his chest, squeezing and wringing his heart as hard as it could.

Even after all these years, he still found it hard to breathe when he caught a rare glimpse of her in daylight. She was so close, yet may as well have been an ocean away. He'd had to develop a great degree of self-control in order to see her. But he was still tempted... all he had to do was go up to the door, ring the bell, and change her whole life. It would be easy.

But he wouldn't. _Couldn't_. This was for the best. If she were to know... who he was now... what he did. **_No_**, she could never know. He wouldn't risk her safety. He wouldn't risk her happiness. He would rather die than be responsible for making her feel the way he felt. It _was_ better this way. For her.

And in the end, what was best for her was what best for the whole world. His world.

He would rather be dead than live in world where she wasn't happy.

But, God, how he missed her...

* * *

"Don't shoot the cop! ...See, I told you, now he's after you!"

"He won't catch me. Watch, I'll steal the idiot's car. _Ha_! What a dumbass!"

_"Mokuba!"_

Mokuba, Tea , and Kaiba were sitting in the Enterstrangement room playing a videogame. Or rather Mokuba was, as Tea made hysterical exclamations at his actions in the game, and Kaiba watched them both in amused silence, speaking only to scold Mokuba on his language every so often.

"_Gogogogo_! Ahhh! He almost got you! Why don't you back up before you drive away! It throws them off." Tea exclaimed, watching the screen through her interlaced fingers.

"Aw, he's not worth it. Besides, I could have drive-byed him if I had to. You freak out too much whenever we play this game. They're not real people, you know." Mokuba calmly replied, mowing down innocent pedestrians as he spoke.

"I know that. But why do you guys _always_ have to be as reckless as possible when you play it? You're just asking to get busted." Tea grumbled, sitting cross-legged on the couch.

"Why not? That's the best part. Besides, I hate doing missions. They're boring."

"No they're not. They're just not all about shooting fat people in the head."

"I do more than shoot fat people in the head. I shoot skinny people, old people, young people, mean people, nice people, and hookers. I shoot lots and lots of hookers."

"I don't like the fact that you know that word, Mokuba. I think this game has corrupted you." Kaiba observed, scowling at the game console.

"Would you rather me learn what a hooker is on the streets, big brother? This game has saved me years of pain and suffering, and possible drug addictions. If anything, it's taught me the value of a clean and healthy lifestyle." Mokuba grinned, eyes glued to the TV screen.

Kaiba snorted.

"He's got a point, Seto. Why should you never make a move on the Don's daughter, Mokuba?" Tea asked, trying her best to sound professional.

"Because he'll have a bomb planted in the car on your next job for him, the fat bastard." Mokuba replied, his voice serious.

"Mokuba, I thought we'd talked about you using words like that." Kaiba growled. He glared at Tea on the other side of Mokuba on the couch. "And _you_ shouldn't encourage him. I don't want my brother becoming like that blond idiot who can't tell his head from his a- _behind_."

Mokuba snickered. "Where is Joey, anyway?"

Tea hesitated, her good mood suddenly evaporating. "He's... out."

Mokuba didn't bother asking where. The sad liltin Tea's voice told him all he needed to know.

* * *

"This is gonna be so cool. I can't wait to show the others after we're done."

"But we're not done yet, so shut up and keep taping, Tristan." Duke muttered.

Tristan, Duke, and Yugi were building a massive cardboard fort in the SSS room. They'd been at it for hours, and the fort was currently about the size of a middle class home.

"We should run Christmas lights through it. We can just staple them to the walls. That would be cool." Tristan said, ignoring Duke.

"And dangerous. If one of them shorted out, we'd set the whole Compound on fire. Ourselves included." Yugi remarked, before ripping off a huge strip of duct tape with his teeth.

"We'll put fire extinguishers in it. One in every room. Oh! We should make windows!" Obviously, Tristan was quite excited at the idea of making a fort.

"How the hell do you 'make' windows?" Obviously, Duke wasn't.

"What are those things called? Box cutters?" Tristan asked, trying to get two sides of a box to match up.

"Those giant razorblades? We've got some. I don't know why, but we have some." Yugi replied, scrambling to hold up a loose wall before it fell over on Duke.

"Then we'll use those. Do you think we should have like, a ventilation system? We could use cardboard tubes and some fans. It'll be cool!" Tristan exclaimed, nearly tripping over a spare box as he tried to get to the other side of the fort.

"I was thinking maybe we should work on a _door_ first." Duke said, sarcastic.

"Oh, I know that, but, after, I mean. We could even paint it! This'll be awesome!" Tristan announced, ignoring Duke's sarcasm.

"...Tristan, you have a bedroom. It's not like you're homeless or anything. Why do you want to build this thing so badly?" Yugi couldn't help but ask.

"Because cardboard forts are so... freaking... _awesome_!"

Duke and Yugi only shook their heads and kept taping.

* * *

Forty miles away, a seventeen year old boy sat in the dark in a black unmarked car, watching the most important person in his life through her bedroom window. And she would never even know.

_"...Serenity..."_

* * *

Author's Note: _What!_ _**Joey** angst!_ Yes. Joey angst. Get used to it. Also, I know that "drive-byed" isn't a real word, but I know that I _cannot_ be the only person who uses that term when playing a certain videogame. If you know what game Mokuba is playing, and the scenario mentioned, then you'll know just how long ago I started this story. Am I the only one who noticed that (dub)Tristan uses the word awesome a lot? Especially during the Noa arc. Hehe. Monkey!Tristan... Anyway, I posted this chapter so soon after the others because school is starting soon, and I don't know how much time I'll have to work on this. That seems to be the motto 'round these parts lately. Oh! And look out for the introduction of both Bakura (in unexpected, yet fitting role) and TENMA in the upcoming chapters. I have plans for both of them... Lastly, thanks for reading, and please review. 


	7. Someone Else's Story: Bonz

Disclaimer: Don't own Yu-Gi-Oh. I wish I didn't own this fic either, but I've gotta get rid of it somewhere, and my trash service won't accept "fanfic" as a recyclable.

* * *

**Dissimulatio**

* * *

Sometimes, teenagers do stupid things. It's a natural part of growing up. Making mistakes, learning from them, and having a blast all the while. Adolescents often get involved in things they'd be better off steering clear of. Unfortunately, in the world we live in, sometimes people don't live long enough to learn from their mistakes.

Three teenage boys snuck around the outside corner of a decrepit building. The windows were all either broken or boarded up. The outer walls were peeling, and the roof was sunk in. The building was two stories tall, and clearly deserted, and had been for a very long time. They scaled around the perimeter, their hands scrambling along the wall, searching for a door.

"I can't find it!" A red-haired boy exclaimed, in his crisp British accent.

"Well, keep searching. This place has gotta have a door!" A tall black-haired boy commanded, roughly shoving the redhead aside with a broad shoulder.

"Hey, watch it ya stupid git!" The redhead growled, glaring at the back of the brunette's head as he continued groping the wall as he turned a corner.

"Both of you shut up and keep looking. We have to find the door so we can get in." A short balding white-haired boy snarled, pushing past the red head as well.

The skinny redhead frowned, and crossed his arms over his chest as he followed the other two boys around the corner. "Why can't we just go in through a window, Bonz?"

The short boy turned to him and sneered, the shadows making his already disturbingly pale face seem alarmingly gaunt. "Because, Sid, we don't know what we're going to find in there, and I, for one, would like to know exactly where the exit is located."

"Me too, so stop your whining, Sid, and help us find the door!" The large black-haired boy growled, beginning to kick the wall as he scaled along it, searching for a knob.

"Kicking the wall isn't going to make the door appear, Zygore." Sid snickered, beginning to feel along the wall again.

"You're right. Maybe I should kick you instead." Zygore replied, glaring at the British boy over the top of Bonz's head.

"Shut up, the both of you. I may have found something." Bonz commanded, holding his hand over an area Zygore had previously kicked and moved over.

"Is it the door?" Sid asked, backing away from the wall.

Bonz hand caught on something, and as he pulled up and backward, dust and ancient debris showered his head, revealing an entrance as the hidden door creaked open.

"Ha!" Bonz shouted.

"Great job, Bonz! I didn't even notice it." Zygore exclaimed, looking in the doorway cautiously.

"Of course you didn't. You can't feel anything through steel toed-boots." Sid muttered, eyeing the darkened doorway warily.

The doorway stood looming before them, and without the aid of the moonlight, the inside of the building was pitch black. There was an almost tangible hum of energy in the air, as if the doorway itself was an entrance to more than just an abandoned jewelry store.

"I don't like this. It's kind of creepy." Sid said, frowning at the open maw of a doorway.

Bonz pulled out a flashlight from his back pocket. "Come on. Let's see if this place still has any hidden treasure in it." He turned it on, and shone the light in the doorway. The small beam illuminated several broken and chipped display counters, their once clear and shining glass casing now shattered in places and covered in grime.

"Sweet. Maybe we'll find some diamonds. This place has been closed so long, I bet no one would even know they were stolen." Zygore said, following Bonz as he stepped into the building. Shaking his head, Sid followed suit.

"Hey, how come you get the flashlight, Bonz? Don't you think someone, eh, taller should hold it?" Sid asked, intently watching the beam of light as it moved erratically around the room.

"Oh, don't be such a coward. You should have brought your own." Zygore stated, following as closely behind Bonz as he could.

"I am not a bloody coward! And why didn't _you_ bring a flashlight, ya lemming?!" Sid snarled back, trying to ignore when the door blew shut behind them from the light wind. "And what the bloody hell is that _stench_?!" A rotting smell overwhelmed the room and pervaded his nostrils and he suddenly felt as though he would vomit.

"I don't know. Stop breathing and it won't bother you." Bonz quipped as he moved the light slowly around the room, searching for anything that reflected back at him. As he shone the light at the bottom of the stairs, he caught site of a flash of yellow. Leaving his two idiotic companions to argue behind him, he crept towards the stairs, finally realizing what the string of yellow was.

"I like the dark." Zygore replied to Sid, his voice oddly flat.

"Yeah, well you're a bit of a nutter anyway." Sid muttered, becoming extremely nervous when he realized he was standing in the dark on the other side of the room, separated from the light and any chance of finding the door on his own. _Something's gone to rot in here. Did somebody snuff it or something? _The disgusting smell intensified and he almost gagged.

"If you only knew." Zygore murmured, stepping closer to him.

Bonz frowned at the yellow strip of plastic, bending down to get a better look at the big black letters emboldened across it. "Hey you guys, I think something bad happened here." He announced as loudly as he dared. The yellow strip was crime tape, from long ago.

Suddenly, for a reason he would never discover, he glanced sharply up to his right, looking at the stairway. A dark figure was standing at the top of the stairs, watching he and his friends. He couldn't tell who it was. It was so dark in the building, it looked as though the shadows had manifested themselves in to the shape of a human form.

"Guys!" He yelled, quickly shifting his light up. Nothing was there, not even a handrail. However, on the stairs themselves he could see an ancient crimson-brown stain, beginning at the top of the wooden stairs, and running all the way down them, to the edge of the crime tape in his other hand.

Behind him, he heard Sid scream, a horrifying gurgling noise coming out from his throat, then an abrupt, terrible silence.

"Guys?! What's going on?!" Bonz screamed, scrambling away from the stairs and shining the light on to his friends. When he saw what had happened, he almost wished he hadn't.

Zygore was standing over Sid, who was lying on the floor. Bonz shifted the light onto Sid's face. His mouth was wide open, and his eyes were staring at nothing, blank and terrified. There was a little blood leaking down his jaw, but most of the red liquid was gushing out of his neck, covering his shirt and the floor as it quickly puddled around his body.

"_Oh-oh m-my God..." _Bonz stuttered, eyes transfixed on his fallen friend.

"Your God isn't watching." Zygore said, his voice chillingly casual.

Bonz immediately shifted the beam on to Zygore's face.

"Artificial light. How fitting." Bonz could feel his heart wanting to burst out of his chest and escape this place as he realized that Zygore's face and hair were covered in Sid's blood.

"W-what? Why...?" Bonz sputtered, feeling tears beginning to course unbidden down his face.

Zygore grinned, and his teeth were dyed red with Sid's blood. "Because it's fun."

Bonz scuttled backward, trying to keep his flashlight on Zygore, while simultaneously attempting to shine it on the walls behind Zygore to find the door.

Zygore slowly stalked towards Bonz, as if he hadn't a care in the world. "You know, that light is even more annoying when it's not real." When Bonz realized that every time the flashlight beam hit Zygore's eyes, they reflected red, he lost it.

"_Please Zygore, don't do this_!" Bonz screamed, panicked. Everything in his being was telling him to run. "_Leave me alone_!" Zygore only continued towards him, backing him against the wall at the bottom of the wooden stairs. "_**No**_!" Bonz shielded himself by throwing his arms over his head, crouching against the bottom stair.

Zygore came to a stop, towering over the smaller shaking boy. "What are you so afraid of?" He mockingly asked.

Bonz only let out a sob in response.

"You don't even know." Zygore snatched the flashlight from Bonz, and threw it across the room, where it landed pointing at the glass display counters, illuminating them.

For a moment, things where silent, and Bonz could only feel his heart beating violently in his chest and hear his own labored breathing in the darkness, his eyes closed tight.

Then, he felt it. Warm breath against his ear. "I'll introduce you to your fear." A voice whispered, freezing the blood flowing in his veins.

With superhuman strength and speed, Zygore wrenched him up by his left arm, yanked him around in a semi-circle, and threw him head first across the room. As Bonz flew threw the air, he noticed his own reflection staring back at him with frightened eyes, coming rapidly closer, and closer, and closer-

_'Oh God, the display counter!'_

As glass exploded around and ingrained itself in his whole world, one last thought ran through his mind before he met oblivion.

_'I __**knew**__ I should have just stayed home...'_

* * *

Author's Notes: Okay, I decided to post the last few chapters I had written for this story, so that I could just wash my hands of it, and stop feeling sick to my stomach every time I glimpsed the files on my computer. I have two and a half more chapters left after this one that I've written, and maybe after I post them I can finally move on, and feel some closure. Wow, that sounds like a bad break-up, doesn't it? Oh well, the relationship was rife with problems from the start; I suppose it was inevitable: it just wasn't meant to be.


	8. Outsourcing

Disclaimer: Don't own Yu-Gi-Oh. In fact, I think I owe Yu-Gi-Oh an apology.

* * *

**Dissimulatio**

* * *

"Okay, crew, gather round. I've got a surprise for you all," Moon announced, standing at the head of the dining table in the Lounge. 

Teams Blue, Yellow, and Red were seated at the table, clad in their pajamas, and attempting to enjoy their breakfast. As usual, he was amazed at how startling the difference was when they weren't wearing black and toting guns around in dark sunglasses. At the moment, with their bed-head hair and half-lidded eyes from just waking up, he could almost believe they were normal kids. Almost. He knew very well how dangerous they could each be if they felt the situation called for violence.

"Is it a pony?" Duke asked, his mouth full of scrambled eggs, with his long black hair falling across his shoulders.

Everyone stared at him.

"Oh, come on, as if you weren't thinking the same thing," Duke griped, before taking an embarrassed chug of his orange juice.

"..._Actually_, we're going to have a few visitors," Moon said, a silver eyebrow raised.

"Ooooh! Who?" Mokuba asked, dropping his spoon into his bowl of chocolate cereal.

"Well, I received word from Mako earlier this morning, and apparently we may have a case of demon possession on our hands," Moon replied, helping himself to a piece of Joey's toast.

"Demon possession? But... we're not really... equipped to deal with that, are we?" Yugi asked, looking concerned. He didn't notice when Tristan flinched as he slathered ketchup on his hamburger.

"Nope. Which is why I've called in someone who is." At this statement, Moon gained everyone's attention. "We here in Cali may not be 'equipped' to deal with a DP, but our associates in Britain are," Moon said, smirking when he saw the interested glint in his charge's eyes at the mention of another division.

"You mean Pegasus," Kaiba stated, his mouth set in a hard line.

Moon held up a finger. "Ahh, not quite. You see, Max has been training a protege, one who can make use of his vast knowledge of... the more _organized_ angle to our work."

Téa frowned. "Wait, so he's not gonna be ordained? Will that work?" She suddenly slapped Joey's hand away from her hash browns and gave him a glare, daring him to try it again.

"Maximillion has assured me that the young man, named Bakura, while despite his lack of credentials, will be completely capable of handling any spiritual hostiles he may encounter," Moon replied, nodding.

"So are Pegasus and Bakura gonna come here and exorcise the demon?" Joey asked, a glob of syrup on his chin.

Moon stared at him a moment, but Joey only stared back. Sighing at the boy's obliviousness, Moon explained. "No, my brother, Knight, will be escorting Bakura here to the States. As the Head of the U.K. branch, Mr. Pegasus has more important things to worry about than a few stupid teenagers who got in over their heads."

"_Hey!_ That's not fair..." Tristan whined.

"Just because we aren't exactly _religious_ doesn't mean we aren't useful," Duke growled.

"It isn't our fault that our employer isn't as knowledgeable or reliable as another," Kaiba snarled at Moon.

"Whoa, _whoa_! I didn't mean you guys, I meant the kids involved in the possession. You guys are great, wonderful, entirely _not _stupid employees who rarely _ever_ get in over your heads," Moon exclaimed, holding his hands up in defense.

Tristan turned his head away sheepishly. "Oh. Well why didn't ya say that..."

"Yeah. Sheesh." Duke mumbled, embarrassed again.

Moon looked at Kaiba and raised his eyebrows.

Kaiba glared back. "I don't care. I meant what I said."

Joey snorted into his pancakes. "What a fine gent..."

Kaiba's head swiveled to Joey like a bird of prey's. "You wanna make something of it, dog boy?"

"Try me Kaiba. I'll knock your prissy ass into next week," Joey boasted, cocking his head at the brown-haired boy across the table.

"Is that right, Wheeler...?" Kaiba murmured, his voice dangerously low, and his eyes focused on only the blond.

"**No!**" Téa shouted, interrupting their prelude-to-beating staring contest. "Can't we just have _one_ meal without you two trying to rip each other's throats out?!"

Kaiba turned to look intensely at the girl sitting beside him. "_Just-__**one**__-punch_."

"_Nooo_," Téa replied, her tone imploring.

Kaiba sighed disgustedly, but turned away from Joey and aggressively cut his cheese omelet into bite-size squares.

Noticing the exchange, Duke and Tristan shot each other a conspiratorial glance over the top of Yugi's head.

"Hey Yugi, you got enough ketchup on that thing?" Mokuba asked, pointing at Yugi's hamburger.

"_Yesh_," Yugi replied, his mouth full of ketchup and hamburger.

Kaiba shook his head. "Who has hamburgers for _breakfast_?"

"_I wuv dem_," Yugi said simply, still chewing.

Moon cleared his throat, trying to regain some semblance of control over the group's pseudo-meeting. "Knight will arrive here with Bakura around dusk, so I want you all to be on your best behavior. Now remember, Bakura will be a bit more sensitive than you all are used to, so _please, __**please**_try not to offend him," Moon begged, mainly directing his request at the older boys.

"Sure thing, boss man," Téa chirped, giving Moon a jaunty salute.

"You got it," Mokuba affirmed, nodding to Moon.

"Ro proremro," Yugi added, the food in his mouth making him sound like Scooby Doo.

"That goes for the rest of you as well," Moon warned, eyeing the other boys suspiciously.

"Yeah, yeah, don't be '_rude, crude, or have a bad attitude'_, we get the drill," Joey droned, speaking for everyone.

Kaiba asked one more question before Moon could return to his beloved elevator. "So, what's this Bakura like, if he's been under the _oh-so-merciful_ tutelage of Maximillion Pegasus?"

* * *

"We should be touching down soon," a man with long silver hair murmured to his companion, who seemed lost in thought. 

A thin boy with long choppy white hair stared out the small round window, his soft brown eyes watching the clouds as they lazily floated past the speeding jet they were inhabiting.

"Hmm," the boy replied, shifting his eyes to look down on the tiny houses and buildings far below them.

The older man sighed. They had been traveling for over eight hours on the private jet, and Bakura had barely said a word. The boy was usually quiet, but this seemed to be something entirely different from Bakura's normally reserved persona.

Knight Crawford observed his younger associate with worry shining in his icy blue eyes. Bakura had always been a shy boy, even before his half-brother had begun imparting his knowledge to him. Perhaps that was why Max decided that Bakura was worthy of receiving the benefit of his years of experience in the first place. At least someone could adhere to his boss' strict code of ethics besides his older twin, Moon. Knight knew he certainly hadn't...

"So Bakura, are you excited? This will be your first time to the States, will it not?" Knight asked the younger boy, trying to break the silence, accompanied only by the light sound of the air conditioning in the jet. Unsurprisingly, Bakura didn't respond, only nodded very slightly, and Knight wouldn't be surprised if he hadn't even heard what he'd asked. Since Dissimulatio owned the jet, the only two passengers in the cushy vehicle were he and Bakura. The pilot, Croquet, who was on call twenty-four hours a day, and went everywhere the jet went, was up in the front, a bullet proof door separating him from the two agents.

Knight stood up and walked from where Bakura was still seated on one of the sectioned sofas bolted to the floor, over to the mini bar by the small kitchen near the entrance to the sleeping quarters of the jet.

As with everything else Dissimulatio owned, the jet was fully loaded, and was more akin to the transportation that a celebrity would prefer rather than that of a private low profile organization. Everything was beige, from the carpet to the walls, to the furniture. There were a few booths aligned against the walls, and a large screen set up for movies towards the front of the compartment. Employee perks on the flight also included an admittedly limited bathroom, surround sound stereo, wireless internet access, mini screens with DVD players above bunks, and, of course, a weapons cabinet with a large selection just in case. In all honesty, Knight thought it was a bit much. He would be more than happy with just a bottle of water and some peanuts.

However, Max always did say he was far too un-enterprising. Moon, on the other hand, was considered refreshingly ambitious, of course.

Reaching the minibar, he pulled out a tiny bottle of brand name whiskey, and chugged it in one swallow. Deciding that he was probably a little too high strung as it was, he did the same to two more. When he was about to down his fifteenth, he noticed Bakura was watching him from his seat on the sofa by a window, giving him a sympathetic look.

"Hhheyy B'kurrr..." Knight slurred. He stumbled back over to where Bakura was seated, and threw himself down on the sofa beside him. "Guess I'ma light-weight, huh..." Knight stated, with a chuckle.

Bakura watched him with a cautious sort of pity. "You said we'll be landing soon?" Bakura asked, in his gentle voice.

"H-yeah, any time now..." Knight muttered, staring at his watch without comprehension.

Sighing to himself, Bakura grabbed his red bag that was sitting under his seat, and pulled out a bottle of pills. Tapping Knight's shoulder, he offered him the bottle.

Knight snorted. "Hmm, guess you 'ave the right idea." Bakura poured him two, and Knight put them under his tongue and waited for them to dissolve. "_'It would be improper for a Dissimulatio agent of my caliber to arrive at my destination contending with the Pharaoh', _after all,"Knight intoned, mocking the words of his half-brother.

As if Maximillion didn't guzzle wine coolers like he was a fish out of water. But, then again, Moon would never dream of inebriating himself on the job. _"Bloody well perfect, 'innit 'e? That's why they're in charge, and I'm hardly more than an errand boy."_

"Knight?" Bakura was staring at him intently.

"Yes, Bakura?" Knight thankfully realized that Bakura had gotten over whatever seemed to be bothering him earlier.

"What are they like? The Americans?" The white haired boy asked, obviously curious.

Knight frowned. From the rare correspondences from across the Atlantic that he had with his twin brother, he'd gathered that Moon's charges were quite the little prodigies. If he were a betting man, he'd put down money that his half-brother employer was _extremely proud _of his older twin, and his ability to control all those kids. In fact, Max was _particularly_ interested in the comings-and-goings of some of Moon's young employees. The American division was the most recently established, and therefore had the youngest agents. Maximillion had told him that every single one of them was under eighteen. And he had decided to leave _Moon_ in charge of them? How crazy was that?! None of them were old enough to buy cigs in the States, but they were old enough to be ripped apart by hellbeasts? _Ridiculous_. Both of his brothers were out of their gourds.

"Well, I don't know too much about them, but both Moon and Maximillion tell me they're quite good at what they do. Most of them are your age, too. The youngest one mans their Console, I believe," Knight replied, his thoughts dark.

"Kind of like Rebecca- oh wait-" Bakura smiled, and then laughed.

"Yes, don't let her hear you say that. You know how she loves to gloat about being two months older than Leon!" Knight chuckled, thinking about their two youngest members' little feud. Rebecca controlled the Console back in Britain, while Leon and Esper worked the field as partners. Due to Siegfried, Leon's older brother, and his insistence that Leon not be put in harm's way, Esper and Leon often had the least exciting missions, many being equal to babysitting. Yet another thing Rebecca liked to tease the boy about. Truth be told, Knight thought the two preteens might be a bit sweet on each other.

"Is it true that just _two_ of them confronted Boloklov in personrecently?" Bakura asked, his tone awed.

"Apparently. I guess Boloklov had a hit over here," Knight replied, shrugging.

"That's unusual," Bakura commented quietly.

"Yes. Maximillion, however, said that they handled the situation _magnificently_. Though, I'm sure Boloklov's back in Germany by now," Knight muttered, thinking of how annoying it was when his half-brother gushed about the little American agents. Max had only met them once, but for some reason he was practically fanatical about the US agents of Dorg. It wasn't as though he himself couldn't have done a just as good, if not better, job at controlling the runts.

Knowing Max, he probably wanted to adopt a few of them as younger siblings. He certainly seemed to approve of them more than he ever had the younger of his half-brothers. _"He probably thanks God everyday that Moon was the older one, and not me." _He could still hear his boss' announcement from years ago in his head. _"Bad luck, Knight my boy, looks like Moon has seniority in his favor. But you're more than welcome to stay on here, under me, of course."_

His good mood ruined, Knight crossed his arms and sunk down into his seat. "We'll be there soon, and then you can take care of this demon, or poltergeist, or whatever the bloomin' thing is," He growled.

Bakura only nodded. Reaching once again in to his bag, Bakura pulled out a heavy black book with gilded pages, and began to read aloud:

_"When Jesus got out of the boat_ _there met him out of the tombs a man with an unclean spirit, who had his dwelling among the tombs; and no man could bind him, no, not with chains: Because that he had been often bound with fetters and chains, and the chains had been plucked asunder by him, and the fetters broken in pieces: neither could any man tame him. And always, night and day, he was..."_

With the words of the Holy Bible running through their thoughts, Bakura and Knight finally landed at the DC Airport in Domino City, California.

* * *

Author's Notes: All right. Another chapter. One and a half more to go. You know, it's really freeing to post these without the pressure to finish it. Ahhh... let me just bask here a moment in the warm glow of failure. Yeah, I know it's probably not as bad as all that, but it falls so far short of all I wanted it to be that I can hardly stand to look at it. I won't disown it, but I will send it out into the world to fend for itself. And don't bother coming back without a _**job**_, Dissimulatio! You're nothing but a disappointment! 

Oh, and "contending with the Pharaoh" was a term I found in my _Slang and Euphemism _dictionary that meant "to be drunk" in some parts of Great Britain. I thought it was neat, and may use it again in another story.


	9. In Dorg We Trust

**Disclaimer: I wash my hands of it. You can have it back now, Kazuki Takahashi.**

* * *

**Dissimulatio**

* * *

"I hope they don't think we're incompetent because we can't handle an exorcism," Yugi worried, looking over at Joey from his place on the passenger seat.

"Naw Yug, don't sweat it. We're the best division of the whole shebang, I dare 'em to say somethin'," Joey assured him as he drove down the street towards the airport.

"I guess you're right. But it's a lot of trouble to go through for just a simple haunting. I mean, we have local exorcists for this kind of thing," Yugi said, looking out his window at the neon pink rays of the setting sun.

"What, you afraid it's somethin' worse than just some angry spook?" Joey asked, turning the car into their private section of the airport.

Zack had assigned Yellow to go pick up their British associates from the DC Airport. Their jet was due to land on their private strip in several moments, just before nightfall.

"I don't know. The murders sounded pretty gruesome, but the kid who killed them has no idea what happened. Possession victims usually have some level of consciousness, but this one is different..." Yugi pondered, watching the tiny black dot in the air that was steadily growing larger as it neared the landing strip.

Joey parked by their hangar and turned off the engine. "...Yug... don't worry 'bout it. Zack and Pegasus are sure that Bakura can handle it. Plus he'll have Tristan and Duke with him in case things get out of hand. It's all good," Joey assured, opening his door and nudging it open with his foot.

"Yeah, you're probably right..." Yugi said as he got out of the car, and followed Joey to the small air-conditioned office beside the DORG hangar.

Joey entered and promptly went around behind the large main desk, dropped into the leather office chair, and threw his arms behind his head while simultaneously propping his black boot clad feet on top of the desk. "Of _course_ I'm right!" Joey said cockily, with one eye open.

Yugi stood by the window, and peeked through the blinds at the approaching jet. "...Hey Joey?" He tentatively asked, not looking at his partner.

"Yeah Yug?"

"How is Serenity doing?" Yugi asked, finally turning to look at Joey and leaning against the office wall.

Joey tensed at the mention of his younger sister. "She's, ah... she seemed good," he replied softly, fixing his eyes on the ceiling.

Yugi looked down at the berber carpet. "I'm glad. You know, Joey, if you ever wanna talk about it we're all here for you..."

Yugi knew that even alluding to Serenity in a conversation with Joey could be risky business, but he had also noticed that his friend seemed to become more and more unresponsive after each visit to Serenity lately. It was worrying him, and he knew that the others were concerned as well. Téa had been the one to suggest for him to try and talk with Joey about it. Luckily, Joey hadn't snapped and punched him in the face like he had done to Tristan when he'd made an inappropriate comment the one time Joey, after much begging, showed him a picture of his younger sister.

Joey didn't respond. He merely stared at the ceiling, his jaw tightly clenched shut.

Thankfully, before the silence between them could continue on to the point of being awkward, a little red light on a box on the wall came on, signaling that the flight controllers were flagging down the jet on to the runway.

Joey immediately perked up, and got up from the desk. "Whelp, guess we'd better get ready to make the pick-up."

After the overwhelming noise and vibration from the landing was over, the two boys left the small office building and approached the runway where a large stealthy looking black jet was now sitting. One of the traffic controllers drove past them on a motorized luggage carrier, heading towards the storage area in the back of the jet.

"Thank you," Yugi said to the man as he passed who nodded back, then parked at the back of the jet and waited for the storage compartment to open so that he could unload the occupant's luggage.

The sky was dark and stars were shining far above them by the time the built-in stairs in the undercarriage of the jet activated and lowered to the ground a moment later. The first thing they saw was the figure of a tall man shadowed by the light behind him from inside. He began descending the stairs with a small black bag slung over his shoulder, and as he came closer, Yugi and Joey could take in his appearance.

The man looked exactly like Moon. From the long silver hair to the broad shoulders and the somewhat cocky walk, this guy looked exactly like their boss. Joey was secretly weirded-out, but didn't comment.

Following the older man out of the jet was a pale boy with long white hair that seemed to be about their age. He glanced shyly around him as he walked down the stairs, his movements jerky and tense, betraying his nervousness.

"Hello there! I assume you are our escort?" The Moon look-a-like called out, his British accent causing Joey to start. At least he would be able to tell the difference between the two brothers when they were speaking, Joey figured.

"Yes. We're here to take you to The Compound," Yugi replied, smiling at the visitors.

Joey and Yugi walked under the jet to meet the new arrivals at the bottom of the stairs.

"Nice to meet you blokes. I'm Knight Crawford, and this is my associate, Bakura Ryou. How d'ya fancy us just gettin' to it, then?" The older man said briskly, blowing right past the two boys and heading towards the black sedan parked a ways off beside the small company owned building.

"Ahem. I, uh, I'm Bakura. What are you both called?" The pale boy asked, looking apologetic about his partner's behavior. He was dressed in black and wearing a red backpack, and Yugi suddenly observed that there was a white strip of cloth around his black shirt collar.

Joey, however, had already trotted off after Knight, concerned that the foreigner might want to steal his position as driver on the trip back to the compound.

"I'm Yugi, and... the guy wrestling your partner out of the front seat's name is Joey," Yugi shook his head, is expression mirroring Bakura's.

The automated stairs receded back up into the jet, and the two boys were forced to take off at a run towards the car, as Joey was in the driver's seat with the engine revving. As Yugi and Bakura jogged side by side, the white haired boy looked over to Yugi with a reassuring smile.

"I'm sure that everything will be fine. After all, there's nothing to fear but... _God_."

* * *

"But anyway, I could tell that she was totally hot for me, but her boyfriend was there with her, so it's not like she could just come up and say, _"I want your body, Tristan."_"

The rest of the Dorg team was gathered around the big table in the lounge awaiting their associates from the British Division. Several of the members were attempting to relax the anticipatory atmosphere by having idiotic conversations, while others were watching television.

"She probably couldn't hit on you because not only was she accompanied by her boyfriend, she also had her _brain_ with her," Duke shot back, rolling his eyes.

"Now, now, children, be nice," Moon advised, pacing nervously around the table, holding a mug of coffee.

_"Good evening, this is Vivian Wong with your top story. In a bizarre turn of events, a home on Keller Street was burnt to the ground earlier today, and the Domino Fire Department as well as the DPD are left scratching their heads."_

Kaiba and Téa were watching a rerun of the six 'o clock news on the large plasma. Mokuba was playing a Game Boy; his attention focused completely on the small electronic device. The whole environment of the compound was tense. It wasn't everyday they had to have someone emergency flown in to solve a case.

_"The fire started at around eleven-thirty this morning, say investigators, and sources tell us that arson is strongly suspected."_

Moon jumped and looked toward the garage entrance when he heard a whooshing noise, but it turned out only to be a fire hose on the TV.

"I think you're just jealous of my virile, tangible, _unambiguous_ sexuality," Tristan sneered at Duke across the table when Moon wasn't looking.

_"Perhaps the most peculiar thing about the sudden and mysterious blaze is the numerous claims from witnesses that there were people still inside of the house as the fire consumed it."_

"And I'm sure that your vibrant masculinity is very much appreciated by your _hand_," Duke replied under his breath, wearing a smirk.

_"There were many reports from bystanders that human figures could be seen and screaming could be heard from inside the home, but no one is currently residing at the address according to city records, and no bodies were discovered among the ash that was once a two story house."_

"Do you guys always have to make masturbation jokes? It's kinda pathetic." Mokuba said suddenly, eyes on his Game Boy.

Téa snickered from beside Mokuba, but Kaiba snatched the Game Boy out of his hands and gave him a warning glare before returning it to him. Mokuba rolled his eyes and continued playing.

_"More on this story as we receive it. And now for your weather repo-"_

FFFFWWHHHHRRRR

Everyone jumped up from the table and looked toward the door. Moon literally threw his empty coffee mug across the room and into the sink, ignoring the shatter of glass as it landed.

SWISH

"We're back!" Yugi called out as he entered the lounge, a second before he realized that everyone was staring at him. Knight, Bakura, and Joey quickly followed him in.

Moon rushed to embrace his brother in an uncharacteristically enthusiastic display. "Long time no see, bro!"

Knight, however, responded rather coldly by standing completely still as his brother threw his arms around him.

Both Kaiba and Mokuba frowned at this, not amused by the chilly reception between _brothers_ do to Knight's standoffish posturing. The elder Kaiba immediately disliked Knight with an unexplainable passion, and resolved to make the man's stay as uncomfortable as possible.

Seeming to sense that his welcome was not as welcome as he had hoped, Moon withdrew from his brother, froze for a moment in indecision, then nodded curtly to him from an arms-length away.

"Hello Moon," Knight greeted, his tone professional and emotionless. Knight surveyed the room, taking a second or two to observe the other teenage members individually. Kaiba wanted to kick him in the teeth for the condescension he sensed in the Moon doppelganger's gaze.

Joey stormed passed both twins and continued on into the Enterstrangement room without a word. Yugi made a motion as if he were about to speak, but instead clamped his mouth shut and gave an apologetic grimace before ducking his head and quickly following after Joey.

For a moment there was an awkward silence, broken when Téa suddenly approached the group by the door, and gave a little wave to the thin white haired boy standing uncertainly behind Knight, looking for all the world like he was trying to will himself into invisibility.

"Hi! You must be Bakura. I'm Téa. Would you like me to introduce you to everyone?" Téa asked, trying to be as polite and friendly as she could, as the young man was obviously skittish when being faced with a room full of strangers.

"S-sure. Thank you, Téa," Bakura replied timidly following the girl as she motioned him over to the other kids.

A few hours later everyone was assembled around the "_official_" station for D-Org business meetings, which was located on the first floor downstairs. This was at Knight's insistence, of course. He seemed to think that the Lounge was _"a poor and exceedingly unprofessional location to conduct Dissimulatio business." _Moon had obligingly relocated the meeting and now he sat at one end of the hi-tech table while his brother sat at the other. The prescribed room for business dealings was much more oppressive and dark than the Lounge, which was the main reason Moon usually chose to brief the kids for a case up there. The small room contained a special table that had a dozen 'stations' set into it that held monitors and small control panels with keyboards for each agent. In the center of the table was a flat, translucent metal surface that could produce images and display information in a hologram-like manner.

The lights were off, so the only light to be seen was that from the monitors in front of each member, and the eerie glow that was cast on their faces off of them.

"As everyone is well aware, the problem that we all hope to fix, and the reason our colleagues have so graciously flown out to assist us in correcting, is a case of what we believe to be demon possession," Moon began, hitting some buttons on his panel. This caused the small image of the dilapidated exterior of the murder locale on each of their monitors to enlarge in the middle of the table as a 3D hologram.

"We are all fully aware of that, _brother dear_. How about moving it along a bit, then?" Knight snapped, his glare singeing the back of Moon's eyeballs from across the long table.

"You're the one who insisted on proper protocol. Full briefings are mandatory, in case you've suddenly forgotten," Kaiba said coldly, sending Knight a patronizing look from down the table.

Knight's head whipped to the side like a hawk's to shoot the tall brown-haired boy a glare that practically carried subtitles stating, "To Be Continued."

"Look, can we just go? 'Cause dis case is just gettin' tedious," Joey drawled, slouching in his chair.

"Oooh, tedious. You learn a new word, Joey?" Duke teased from his seat directly opposite Joey.

"Shut the hell up, assface," Joey retorted, not bothering to look at him.

"Alright! Alright... Yellow can go question the boy at the mental hospital, while Blue can accompany Bakura to the murder site," Moon commanded, clearly embarrassed at his charges' spat.

"What about Knight? ... And Téa and I?" Kaiba asked, scowling at Moon.

"Oh... well, I guess you get to hang out here for a while until Bakura does his thing, and maybe get to know each other..." Moon replied.

_"Great," _Kaiba and Knight sarcastically stated at the same time, glaring intensely at one another over their monitors.

Téa allowed her forehead to fall forward and slam onto her keyboard in defeat.

* * *

"I - don't - I - I - I don't..." a dark haired brawny teenage boy was huddled in the corner of his hospital room, rocking back-and-forth with his arms around his knees.

Joey raised an eyebrow at the doctor accompanying he and Yugi. His patient kept giving the same non-response to everything they asked.

"As you can see, Mr. Zygore is clearly in a highly agitated state. I've already told you that it would be completely hopeless to question him at this point in his recovery," the doctor explained plaintively. The man wore his white coat and had a tiny gray mustache and wore glasses. For some reason he reminded Yugi of Mr. Rogers.

The "G. K. Mental Institution of Domino" was home to more than one thousand five hundred emotionally unstable, criminally insane, or otherwise mentally unhinged residents. And now Samuel Zygore, the boy they were sent to question, the accused murderer of his two best friends, was the newest arrival.

"Recovery?" Yugi asked, leaning against the closed door of the room behind him.

"Yes, recovery. Samuel has all of his physiological abilities intact despite the emotional trauma, and we expect a complete recovery," the doctor stated matter-of-factly, behaving as though he could hardly wait to have the two agents out of his hospital.

"What emotional trauma?" Joey questioned, as he watched the other boy rock in the corner in slight disgust. Why-oh-why didn't hospitals issue some kind of _underwear_ to go with those thin paper gowns?!

The doctor looked at Joey as if he had insulted him. "Well, obviously, killing two of your friends in cold blood isn't the best way of going about attaining a healthy psyche," he explained, looking down at Zygore over the top of his glasses.

"So... you think he did it?" Yugi asked hesitantly, from behind Joey and the doctor.

The doctor quickly turned to face him. "Of course he did it. The only question is how soon he can recover in order to be fit to stand trial."

"And here I thought dat we were innocent 'til proven guilty in dis country," Joey said disdainfully, sneering at the doctor.

"You forget, young man, that we _are_ in the United States of America." The doctor replied snarkily.

"He was - he was - he - he..." Zygore muttered, bloodshot eyes streaming tears.

The doctor flew over to his side. "What is it, Samuel?" He asked, leaning down to him and trying to sound comforting. Both Yugi and Joey could see the greedy gleam in his eye.

Zygore stopped rocking and looked past the doctor, over to the DORG agents. "He wants to hurt people. He wants to hurt _everyone_," Zygore croaked, breaking into loud sobs while once again starting to rock back-and-forth.

The doctor slowly stood and backed away from his patient, disturbed by the sudden cryptic clarity in Zygore's speech. "Obviously speaking about himself... in third person... delusional... poor boy..." he murmured to himself, the doubt ringing clear in his voice.

Yugi and Joey nodded to each other, a grim confirmation about what they were dealing with.

* * *

"Cree-pyyy," Duke intoned shining his flashlight around the insides of the old building.

"Yeah, creepy. Now could you move your fat ass out of the doorway?" Tristan said from behind him, holding up a lantern. "There's freakin' dust everywhere," he said, continuing into the room from the hidden doorway outside. Bakura followed him in, holding a flashlight as well. The room held a morbid stillness.

"My ass isn't fat," Duke said quietly.

"Perhaps we should _not_ split up," Bakura suggested, holding the door behind him open.

Duke and Tristan turned to stare at him in the darkness.

"Heh heh... I - um - _joke_ - you see... because _usually_ they say... so I - uh..." Bakura stuttered, thankful they couldn't see his blushing in the dark despite his pale complexion.

Duke suddenly let out a bark of over-exaggerated laughter. "Oh, I get it. Fuuu-neee..." he exclaimed, failing at sincerity.

Tristan said nothing, and continued farther into the room, past Duke. His lantern cast it's light over the scene, the shadowed walls slowly illuminating eerily as he moved through the area. "Just ignore Scooby Doofus, Bakura. It looks to me like we've found our murder site."

He set the lantern down on what remained of the glass counter, stepping carefully over the new "Crime Scene" tape as he examined the glass.

"'Scooby Doofus', huh? You come up with that one all by yourself?" Duke asked, approaching Tristan at the counter.

"As a matter of fact, no. I saw it on television. You got a problem with that?" Tristan replied, only half-serious. He could distinctly see where the boy's head had gone through the glass, ending his life. The blood splattered everywhere did nothing to ease his discomfort.

"No, I'm just surprised that they would have such a witticism on Sesame Street," Duke shot back motioning for Bakura to let go of the door already, and come in.

Bakura slowly shut the door, and shivered when he felt how cold the room was once inside. "Can we perhaps get this taken care of quickly?"

Tristan was just about to reply to Duke's insult, but instead decided to let it pass. This time. "Good idea, Bakura. How does the middle of the room sound for a starting point? I don't really know how all this works, so..."

Bakura took the bag off his shoulder and rummaged through it, holding his flashlight in his mouth. "That's fine," he said, muffled.

Duke moved his flashlight around the room, trying to see the edges of the darkness that the lantern couldn't cover. He caught the bottom of the stairs, and noted the ancient crime tape. It was almost funny, as if the building was reliving the past.

Mokuba had called them when they were on the way over to the old building, and while the kid did whine about never being able to do any "cool stuff" like them, he did provide them with some interesting information about the history of the location.

-Apparently, decades before, the place used to be an upscale jewelry store. As the story went, one day a thief decided to rob the jewelry store. But he was a very clever thief, so clever that some claimed he possessed some magical item that allowed him to 'sense' where expensive items were located. As far as the authorities of the time could tell, the thief decided to lay in wait, hiding inside a vent until closing time had long passed. What the police found so clever, was that no one had any idea how he snuck into the building in the first place. All that the thief had to do was hang out in the vent until nightfall, rob the place blind, get out however he had gotten in, and get away hundreds of thousands of dollars wealthier.

Except that it didn't happen that way. Perhaps fate does have a sense of humor, because on that very night three friends, about the same age as the three boys gathered there right now, visited the jewelry store with the same intentions as the thief. Earlier in the day one of the friends, a girl, had visited the store and shoplifted a bracelet on the dare of the other two friends, who were boys. Sure that she would be caught, they waited for her near the entrance, anticipating the alarm bells suddenly ringing as she crossed the threshold. But when nothing happened, they were at first confused, then ecstatic when they realized that the alarms were malfunctioning. What they didn't know was that they had the thief to thank for their "luck". They resolved at that moment to return later that night, and ransack the place.

The professional thief waited until the witching hour to leave his hiding place, and began stripping the place of all its jewels. He was upstairs in the showroom when he heard someone enter through the front door. The two boys entered first, and finding nothing worth snagging downstairs (as the thief had already plundered the entire floor), they too went to the showroom, not knowing who lurked in the darkness, waiting. The thief must have struck quickly and silently, as police reports stated that the boys didn't try to defend themselves as their assailant expertly slit both their throats with a butterfly knife. As far as investigators could figure, the girl then went upstairs as well, probably looking for her two friends, but was met at the top of the stairs by the thief himself, and a knife to the gut. She then tumbled down the stairs, breaking her neck and bleeding to death at the bottom. The intruders taken care of, the thief returned to his previous business.

What the thief didn't know was that earlier in the day, an employee had seen the three teenagers make off with the pilfered bracelet, and had alerted the security company, as well as the police that all was not well. At this very moment, nine police cars surrounded the building, their sirens wailing. The newly reactivated silent alarm had gone off, and they were ready to capture however many wily teenagers they had to in order to make an example of shoplifters. Confused and infuriated at this twist of events, and demoralized at the collapse of his perfect plan, the thief ran downstairs and faced a wall of gun barrels as the police flooded through the front door. Quickly discovering the man standing in the middle of the room dressed in black and brandishing a bloody knife, the sight of the dead teenage girl at the foot of the stairs was all it took to trigger a massacre of lead against the thief. He was shot dead practically on sight by the police officers gathered there that night, and the coroner extracted over forty bullets from his dead body during the autopsy.

The three young people were mourned, but no one ever discovered the true identity of the thief. Neither his dental records or fingerprints were in the national database, and no one came forward to identify his body. He was buried in an unmarked grave in a local cemetery. The jewelry store was never able find all of their inventory after the break in, but it didn't matter because they went out of business the next day in wake of the tragedy. It was rumored that the missing jewels were still in the building, hidden away so that the thief could return from the grave someday to retrieve them. He was a clever man, truly, but not even he could "out-clever" a bullet or forty.-

"We all agree that it would be better to avoid the second floor? 'Cause I don't fancy getting stabbed, ghost or no," Duke suggested, quickly turning his flashlight from the blood stained stairs in an effort to keep his mind off of the horrible things that had occurred in this room.

"Chicken," Tristan muttered, observing Bakura as he arranged some white candles in a circle in the middle of the room. The blood from the latest murders had been mopped from the floor, but the lemony scent of cleaning supplies couldn't wash away the memory of carnage.

As Duke watched Bakura set up for whatever it was he planned on doing, he couldn't help but notice that the circle of candles was wide enough to hold three or four people.

"Hey Bakura?" Duke asked.

"Yes?" Bakura replied, tracing a symbol on the hardwood floor with white chalk.

Duke shifted nervously. "You don't, ah, need _our_ help with the actual exorcism, do you?"

Bakura quickly looked up from what he was doing. "I, well, _yes_, of course I do. Didn't one of our bosses tell you how this works?" He asked, blinking.

"No," Tristan ground out, before sighing. Figured. He was just glad he hadn't had any pea soup before doing this.

Bakura finished writing on the floor, and stood. He walked out of the circle of candles and sigils on the floor and motioned for Duke and Tristan to get in. "Your part is really quite simple. You'll serve as my anchor of sorts as I attempt to contact the malign spirit. Don't worry, you're completely safe. I'm the only one in any real danger," the white haired boy explained in a reassuring voice.

"Thanks for saying that, Bakura, but two guys were killed here not too long ago, and as far as I know, neither of them were bible-thumpers either," Duke stated, crossing his arms over his chest.

_"Trust," _was all Bakura said, motioning for them to sit down with him around the circle.

The candles flickered all at once after he spoke, causing the hair on Tristan's arms to rise, and triggering a shiver through Duke's whole body.

"Again, _cree-pyyy,_" Duke mumbled as he and Tristan sat down cross-legged with Bakura in a triangle around the circle.

"Now, would you both try to center yourselves emotionally and spiritually, and let us all link hands..." Bakura requested, his eyes closed in concentration.

Tristan and Duke exchanged a glance.

"Wait. Is this an exorcism or a _seance_?" Duke asked, hesitantly joining hands with Bakura and Tristan.

Bakura bowed his head and smiled faintly. "Mr. Crawford's methods are anything but conventional," he replied, with glimmer of humor in his voice.

"_Ugghhh_... Do you smell that..?" Tristan groaned, scrunching up his face in disgust.

An acrid, sick odor suddenly enveloped the room and Tristan and Duke both held back gags as it seemed the environment became suffocated by the smell of rot.

"Typical paranormal phenomena... just concentrate," Bakura murmured, his head still bowed with his eyes closed.

The two American agents grudgingly mimicked his posture, willing themselves to focus, and to breathe through their mouths.

There was silence for a few moments, punctuated only by their own breathing and the wailing of the wind outside as it beat against the building.

Duke cracked open an eye to peer at their British associate. "...Are you gonna say something?" He asked, starting to get impatient.

"Duke, shut up!" Tristan snapped, keeping his eyes closed.

"...Hmm... There appears to be no need. The spirit has already departed," Bakura announced, breaking his grip on Tristan and Duke's hands and quickly standing up from his position on the floor.

"Wha- what do ya mean, it's_ "already departed"_? We didn't even do anything," Tristan said, slowly standing from the floor, and dusting off his pants as he watched Bakura slowly approach the staircase, his gaze focused on the upper level.

"Our presence is unnecessary. The spirit sensed our temporary occupation as one of comfort, not judgment, and felt secure enough to leave this plain," Bakura explained matter-of-factly. As he took one step on to the bottom stair and was lifting his other foot to ascend, he suddenly froze. His ascending foot slammed back on to the floor, and his whole body became rigid. His jaw clenched shut and he was breathing heavily through his nose. The veins in his forehead and neck became pronounced as he braced his right hand on the post at the end of the stair rail, as if to keep from falling.

Duke quickly strode over to him. "Bakura, are you alright?" He asked in concern.

Bakura didn't move. The only sound he made came from his labored breathing. Duke watched in horror as a thin line of blood began to trickle from his nose.

_"Bakura!"_

"What's wrong with him?" Tristan demanded, starting to come over to them.

Duke reached out a hand to place on Bakura's shoulder, but just before he came into contact, Bakura's posture relaxed, and he let out a huge shaky breath as his body sagged, and he fell against the wall, one foot still on the stairs.

_**"Don't move!"**_ Bakura commanded, his voice surprisingly strong despite his exhausted appearance. Tristan stopped in his tracks, and Duke pulled his hand away from him.

"What's going on? Is it still here?" Tristan questioned, quickly growing frustrated at the feeling of helplessness associated with dealing with noncorporeal hostiles.

Bakura painfully slid himself up the wall, into a standing position. He slowly ran his tongue along his top lip to taste the blood dripping down his face. He shook his head and wiped his face with a black-clad arm. "It's gone. The spirit just wanted to communicate a few words with me. Last rights, if you will," Bakura explained wearily.

"Are you sure this time? 'Cause this thing killed two guys our age, and drove the other one nuts. I don't think we're dealing with _Casper the Friendly Ghost _here, Bakura," Tristan said, as he suddenly noticed that the rank stench that had suffocated the room earlier was no longer present.

Bakura straightened up, and placed his other foot on the bottom stair. "I'm sure. But I have to take care of something before we go." He motioned towards his red bag lying near where Tristan stood. "Empty that out and chuck it to me, will you?"

Tristan picked up the bag and was about to overturn it on to the floor with the rest of the supplies that it had previously contained, when he noticed a black leather-bound book inside. "Err.. your Bible's in it," he said awkwardly, the open bag hanging from his hand.

"Just dump it and give it to me!" Bakura snapped, annoyed that he had to take his eyes away from the second floor landing. "Please..." Bakura added, ingratiatingly.

Duke took a hesitant step towards the white haired boy, as if afraid he would spook the junior unordained priest like a rabbit.

"I thought we agreed we weren't going upstairs..."

Bakura looked at Duke as though he'd never seen him before. "I have an obligation to help those in need, even if it's already too late for their earthly lives." He took another step on the staircase. "Tristan, my bag _please_."

Shrugging in defeat, Tristan took out the Bible from the bag, dumped the rest on to the floor, and tossed it over Duke's head and the rail, into Bakura's arms.

Duke backed away from the staircase and joined Tristan beside the circle of white candles. "Didn't realize you were so pious," Duke whispered, noticing the Bible Tristan still held in his hand.

"Hey, we need all the help we can get, in this job," Tristan replied, deciding to gently lay the book onto the floor.

"Aren't you at least going to take your flashlight? Do you want the lantern?" Duke called to Bakura as he watched him walk up the stairs.

"Do you want us to go with you?" Tristan asked, sounding less than enthusiastic at the suggestion.

Bakura stopped for a moment when he was halfway up, and the two agents could vaguely see his profile in the dim light, before Duke picked up his flashlight and shined it onto the British agent's face. He was smiling at them wanly.

"Relax, both of you. This, I need to do alone. We're no longer in any danger."

When Bakura turned back to the second floor, and began ascending again, Duke lowered his flashlight, and turned to Tristan nervously.

Bakura's slow footsteps echoed hollowly through the building. When they stopped, he called down to Tristan and Duke from the top of the staircase.

"After all, there's nothing to fear but fear itself."

* * *

Knight was pacing back and forth in the Lounge.

Back and forth.

Back and forth.

Back...

...and forth...

_Back..._

_..and..._

_...forth..._

"I don't trust him," Kaiba muttered lowly, his words muffled by his arms as they lay crossed under his head on the table.

_That's an Armani suit he's wearing. Why does he need such an expensive suit? He thinks it'll impress us. That's pathetic. Moon doesn't dress like that, and he ranks higher than Knight. That's insulting; he thinks we're sheep who are so vain that we're awed by some fruit's signature on a label. As much as I appreciate the way the cut of a suit can make a lasting impression, the only thing Armani says in this profession is "I'm a pretentious narcissist." _

"You don't trust anyone," his companion chided, her eyes glued to the National Geographic she was flipping through in the seat beside him.

Kaiba pointedly lifted his head a bit and sent her a warning glare.

Téa kept her eyes focused on her magazine, but he noticed the barest flicker of a smile in the corner of her mouth.

_Oh, so she wants to be like that._

"Wrong. You're just entirely _too_ trusting. I wouldn't expect you to understand some healthy discretion," Kaiba remarked, purposely keeping his tone apathetic.

_Don't forget; I know how much you hate it when I act like I don't care._

"No, I'm not. I use discretion," Téa shot back, mildly offended, and finally turning her head to look at him.

_You don't. Not really. Sometimes you're so damn trusting, it scares me._

"I'll be sure and tell that to that nice man who promised to show you his puppy, if you would just get into the back of his _white unmarked __**van**_," Kaiba stated, staring her down.

_I'm not going to forget that. If I hadn't been with you, we might never have seen you again._

Téa broke his gaze and turned away. "Oh, _shut up_. That was a long time ago!" She said, sounding embarrassed and exasperated.

_You must think I'm joking. I was terrified of you... in that instant when I realized how dangerous it was to be you. I hope that fucker rots in jail. Or wherever it was Moon had him put away to. He told me later that he'd had the scum tracked down and "taken care of"._

"And yet, you still regularly go skipping over to strangers bearing candy," Kaiba sneered, moving one arm to pull her magazine from her and slide it across the table, out of her reach.

_If I hadn't been there with you... __**I**__ might never have seen you again..._

Téa stood from her seat, and leaned across the table to snatch her magazine back into her arms. "I am _not_ as naive as you think, _Mr. Kaiba_," Téa asserted, raising an eyebrow at him mischievously.

_No. You know I'm not joking. This is just a game we play with each other. I remember how you didn't understand why I was so furious with you as I dragged you away from the kindly older gentleman, and back to the carnival. Back then, I wasn't as tall as I am now, and you elbowed me right in the throat._

_That__** really **__pissed me off._

_The midget, the mutt, and the metal-mouth (back then, at least) had come running, and arrived just in time to see me yelling at you, shouting to God and everyone within earshot just how stupid you were, and you, just standing there, crying, like I'd been the one that had tried to abduct you._

_Later, after we got home, and the others explained to Moon how I went off on you like some rabid psychopath for no other reason than that I "hated dogs," he sat me down in one of the newly furnished offices, and proceeded to berate me until I finally couldn't stand his righteous indignation anymore, and told him what really happened._

_After I finished, he'd looked at me like he wanted to cry too._

_Perhaps, because you and the others were too innocent to understand just how close you were to experiencing something so horrible._

_Perhaps, because I wasn't._

"Victimsaywhat?" Kaiba asked quickly, suppressing a feral grin.

_You're so easy. Does it make me a predator to look at your naiveté that way?_

"What?" Téa replied immediately, confused.

_I remember Moon quickly apologizing, and informing me that little Mokuba was already in bed, but that he'd bet my brother was still awake, waiting up for me. I went to bed angry that night, and I knew that I would never speak to any of those idiotic kids here ever again, especially you._

_The next morning, I woke up at dawn, with you standing at the foot of my bed._

"..." Kaiba looked at her blankly, waiting patiently for the insult to sink in.

_You apologized, and thanked me._

_I guess after I went to bed, Moon had a little talk with you, too._

_We never told the others. I refused to waste my breath defending myself to them, and you... I think that maybe you were terrified of them a little now too, terrified, the way I was of you when I saw you step one foot into that stranger's van. There's power in caring, and the horrible fear of losing what you care for is alienating when no one else will acknowledge the possibility._

"..." Téa cocked her head to the side and narrowed her eyes, having realized what he'd said, and gave him a chance to retreat before she retaliated.

_After that happened, things changed between us... a little. Sometimes, when we went out... if it was at night... if we got separated from the group... when it was just you and I walking alone together... sometimes..._

_...You would hold my hand._

"..." Kaiba wasn't taking the bait.

Téa scoffed, and deliberately turned away from him to read from her magazine again. "...Jerk..."

Kaiba grinned into his sleeve, again resting his head in his arms on the table. He looked across the room to where Knight had been pacing, only to meet with the British man's withering stare. Knight glared at he and Téa with unconcealed loathing, standing in front of the large black sofa. But then, just as Kaiba began to react, Knight looked away, and began pacing again, as though nothing had happened.

Kaiba looked to see if Téa had noticed the exchange, but she was currently absorbed in an article about a new safari vehicle that was being used in Africa. Kaiba grunted, and set himself to watching Moon's brother as he paced back and forth across the Lounge floor.

"I _really_ don't trust that guy."

* * *

Author's Notes: Ugh. Well, I think that's all I'm going to post. The next chapter had a car bomb at a gas station with Yugi and Joey, an axe fight between Possessed!Bakura and Tristan and Duke, and trapped-in-a-car-together hijinks with Knight, Kaiba, and poor, poor Téa. 

But I'm weary of this black hole of a fic, so let's just say that they all lived happily-ever-after.

Except that they didn't.

I have about a notebook-and-a-half full of notes for this fic, and I may just type up a chronology of what would have happened to put up on my new bebo account. Then I can walk away from this abusive nearly four year long relationship with some closure.

Thanks for reading, thanks for caring, and good-bye.

(But feel free to read my other stuff, which I will continue.)


End file.
